#df death ring

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Cyclamen (short story)

Excitement fizzed throughout Dullahan’s body as he dragged Harriernose from the tunnel and to the pit. Harriernose screeched, lashing out with his claws, but Dullahan positioned himself to dodge the blows.

The pit was ringed with a wonderfully full crowd that lashed their tails and emitted whooping hollars as Dullahan and Harriernose stepped into the open.

“Everyone!” Myrtlewing, Dullahan’s father, announced from the bottom-most crevice, “witness today my son, Dullahan-Hellebore, and the vile Cyclamen that he shall vanquish from our homes!”

Harriernose’s eyes clouded over with confusion. 

Thrilled, Dullahan had enough energy to race around the ring ten times. In an attempt to direct it–or at least hold it somewhere–he dug his claws deep into Harriernose’s shoulders, keeping the ginger tom pressed against the blood-stained earth. 

“I’m sure most of you know what he did,” Alderstar, Dullahan’s other biological father, spoke up from beside his mate, “but for those who need a refresher, this pitiable excuse for a warrior took mates from other Clans–and then forced them to kill their unborn kits so that he wouldn’t get caught for it!”

Hisses and boos erupted from the crowd. A few cats flung rocks from where they sat. Dullahan stepped aside momentarily for them to pummel Harriernose’s skull. 

“And guess what?” Dullahan took over now. “In spite of our little reminders that we gave him here, he’s returned to his old ways once again! A Dark Kit, killed by their own father!”

Harriernose squirmed. “What? That’s not true! What need have I to–”

“Silence!” Dullahan slammed his paw down hard on Harriernose’s head. 

“This…creature cannot be fixed,” Myrtlewing stated with a shake of his head. “He cannot be trusted among us. He is a sickness, one that must be taken care of. Dullahan-Hellebore, can you rid us of this malady?"

Dullahan dipped his head low, forcing back the smile in favour of seeming solemn. “I will.” But he was just too excited, too delighted, too all the words that could describe this heated, blood-scented wave that crashed through his body again and again, increasing with every ripple and making his legs shake with anticipation. 

When he looked back down at Harriernose, he was sure that his pupils stretched over his entire eyes, that his breath came out visibly ragged now, and that his lips were stretching far above his sharp teeth in a large, crazed grin.

Harriernose could do nothing but stare back, eyes so wide that they practically popped out of his head.

“And I’ll make it a show.”

==================

Wait, Harriernose had a Dark Kit?

....Well no, but Dullahan's dads are supportive, so if they have to drag someone already disliked by many to the Death Ring and make a little white lie, where's the harm?

--Rip one member of the Shitbag gang.

--Wrote this in a rush, can you tell?

[bonefall]

I like both ideas, bc it provides an opportunity for the Dark Forest to evolve in some way; I really like the idea of Curl taking lead and trying to make the Dark Forest cats united (not for any real GOAL, but bc they're still clan cats dammit, and separated in little pockets they'll never be able to grow).

The camp one is kinda obvious- it was a place of horror, but they need a place to stay. She never came too close to the place until she realized that if she wanted to unite the cats into a group, they needed a camp. And Starclan (she hisses at the irony) knows she'll never do it on her own. She enters, and it terrifies her- before she knows it shes backing away and fleeing. Over time though, she makes it further in, stays a bit longer. She finds the dens are still pretty decent, and that her heart feels a lot lighter as she rips down and destroys the cage. She's elated to find hierloom tools in the camp eventually- some are broken, but can be fixed. She purrs as she thinks how happy Darkstripe would be to have some proper cooking tools. This was a place of fear and death, yes, but it doesn't always have to be that way, does it?

The dogs less so but hear me out. At first she is haunted by the dogs, downright terrified- the gnashing of teeth, the frenzied barks. It's not even anything she can think or dwell on; as soon as she hears the howling and barking, she's immediately running away, fleeing as far as her paws take her. She knows she'll never actually die here, but she's still so, so scared. Maybe she comes to the conclusion on her own, or maybe someone else points it out, but eventually she realizes what you mentioned. She saved her CHILD- she should be PROUD, not scared. This is her greatest moment- her death an irrelevant footnote compared to her baby's life. Idk *exactly* how it should go, but she confronts her fear, and manages to 'tame' it. She is no longer afraid, this illusion holds no power over her. Either they fade away and just stop existing without Curl's fear to feed it, maybe they turn docile and harmless, idk. No matter what though, i have a feeling that something like THAT will catch the eye of some DF cats, sorta like a Tiny to Scourge deal. "She got rid of her land mar" into "She destroyed the land mar" to "She KILLED her land mar"- even the first one has to gain her some respect frok the others, and gives her a solid footing to try and get cats together and united.

Ask was sent a while ago, and I've been looking at it since then. It's a really good pitch, and I had things to do, so I just passively chewed it for a while. Both ideas are really good; so I was trying to think of some way to get them together.

I think I've got a good thought now;

I'll make Curlfeather's Land Mar dog related.

But they're not the same dogs that actually attacked her (which, depending on how the arc goes, might ACTUALLY be apparitions from the Dark Forest which Ashfur dragged out for his schemes. Specifically they'd be Brightheart's nightmares.)

Curlfeather's Hounds are blind. They hunt completely through "smell," and they smell her fear

I can keep her Land Mar being quite unique by actually having it follow her. Instead of it being a place she's trapped in, she's haunted by random dog events which will inevitably interrupt any plans she makes.

So she's perpetually close to making the group that she wants, uniting these demons just because it's what she deserves, but she is forced to flee when her hounds find her.

The camp she ends up using doesn't have to be her OWN Land Mar; I have another cat who actually has a 1:1 camp as theirs.

Morningstar, the deposed leader of ThunderClan who refused to allow his cats to fight. His is simply his camp, on the day where Pearstar invented the Right to Challenge and killed him for his position.

Morningstar's also HATED in the Dark Forest, because of his pacifism. Thinking about it, it's actually a great parallel for what I'm planning with Curlfeather!

She has disdain for her father because she sees him as weak. Reedwhisker swearing loyalty to The Kin after being tortured was her catalyst for believing he needed to die; that RiverClan would have a sniveling, careless leader.

So if it's Morningstar she ends up developing a bond with, they can help each other.

Morningstar can make her realize that her terrifying death by the dogs is something she can be proud of. That it isn't something to fear and revile, but a sign that when she was forced to choose between love and ambition, she chose love.

And Curlfeather can see that maybe people like Morningstar, who she'd always seen as weak, have wisdom she'd never considered. Uniting these cats isn't about power or recognition; it's just about helping to make everyone's lives better.

I can even keep the "empty camp" idea. Stepping into Morningstar's gloomy Land Mar, setting a little fire just to help with the mist, and realizing it's not all that bad. There's old tools laying strewn about, the dens are all in working order. We can make a proper home here, if we let it be.

There's probably a cage there because of Ashfur, maybe it's the one that he made the demons toss Rootspring into. Maybe I'll have the demons eventually trick Curlfeather's Sighthounds into Deadfrost's Labyrinth, if Shredtail's still around. He double-died in canon but I wouldn't be too opposed to killing someone else in his stead.

She'll also have to prove herself to the other demons. Most of them are pretty wary of "leader-types" after what happened with Tigerstar. Ironically the closest thing they have to a "leader" is Darkstripe because his soups are so good. If he doesn't like your vibe, you're cut off from the "Social Circle."

I need to make some sort of pun out of Rings of Hell and Social Circle. Social Ring of Hell.

[kinky-asexual]

Ended up writing a little over 1000 words from a little side au @reagi-df and I have been working on together. Out of context dream sequence where F!Leo, who doesn't have his memories, dreams of the doomed timeline.

Under the read more bc it got so long holy shit 😅 Anyway, enjoy! <3333 I know I did!

Hot.

The air burns his lungs as he runs, panting heavily with pain jolting through his body with every step. He looks down at something in his hand. Its blurry, a mishmash of colors, the most prominent being red, purple, orange, yellow, silver, and blue. They swirl together, mocking him in his confusion.

An explosion. The heat gets worse for a moment and his eyes flash up around him. The sky is burning. Some kind of machine, one that flys through the air, catches fire, plummeting to the ground a short distance away as people scream and flee from something that's shooting at them.

The source is unimaginable. Giant, metal beasts, eyes ablaze with a horrifying red glow. One rises to its feet, its eye glowing bright hot before some kind of beam shoots out frrom it, causing another exposion. And even if its far, the shockwave washes over him followed by more unbearable heat. It burns his skin. It burns his eyes. He's burning. He's drowning.

There's something chasing him, something he knows if it catches him, death would be a mercy.

Another stab of pain has him wincing, his hand instantly reaching down to his side along with his eyes to quickly follow. Blood. His blood. Leaking out of him at a pace that's hard to fathom. Its why his head pounds, why his vision swims.

"I got you Sensei!" a voice says, his vision shifts sideways and more red comes into his vision, stripes of color going over the person's eyes. "Stay with me-"*

He wants to ask what happened, wants to ask who they are, why are they helping him?

But he can't hear what he says. He can hear he uses his voice but he doesn't understand the words.

The red stripes move and the persons masks shifts up revealing a kid. A child. Why is a child here of all places?

The kid says something else but he still can't hear. The explosions around them making his ears ring painfully. He wants to stop. His body begs him to stop. But he knows if he stops its over. The beasts that nip at their heels will make sure of it. But he can't take it. His knees give out and he drops, dragging the kid to the ground with him. The growling at his back grows louder and he braces, ready for more pain.

But then warmth.

Not heat like everything else. This is warmth. Like the sun he hadn't felt in so long.

Golden chains encircle them, protecting them from the horrible beasts at their backs. He turns over, his heart leaping into his throat as someone, another turtle suddenly appears, burning away the evil that had been chasing them with his massive holy light. And relief fills his body. Until the pain reminds him of his position.

The kid helps him down to the ground fully, helping him lean against some of the rubble in the shadow of the ruined statue they're sheltering under. The turtle, floats over, concern written into his aged features. And looking at this other turtle hurts, seeing his age, and the world burning around him.~This isn't how it was supposed to be...

"Help him Michaelangelo , he's hurt bad. " the kid pleads, emotion bleeding into his voice. And speaking of bleeding. He looks down at the hand he's got clamped over his side. Cold and metalic and as he pulls it back, covered in blood. The crack in his plastron, more like a hole, a puncture wound of some kind. But without the prerssure he had placed onto it, the blood seeps from the crack again. He clamps his hand back against it, sucking in breath through his teeth. It hurts.

But looking out to the landscape around him. Torn apart and blazing. Those metal beasts are everywhere, burning the land they stand on, killing everything in their wake. And flying above them all....the destroyer. A star in the center of the sky that these beasts worship and it commands are absolute.

The end of the world

His mind reels. He doesn't understand. He's saying things he can't hear, and the two others look at him with different expressions. one confused, the other determined. The turtle nods. "It'll take everything I have." and with that he floats away. And for some reason, he feels like he'll never see him again.

He starts speaking to the kid, watches the emotions flicker over his face, how heart broken he seems while golden light burns a few paces away from them. He gives him something, drawn crudly on the back is a blurry picture he can't recognize. But then his hand is on the kid's shoulder, and the kid looks like he's about to cry.

"I don't wanna lose you..." The kid practically whispers.

And this time he can actually hear his own words.

"Casey...its not about me-"

He's cut off by Red.

Coating them, drowning them in its light.

Looking up, his heart stops as the beast stares down at them. And then more rise up from behind them.

He looks to the turtle. He calls to him but can't hear his name. The turtle doesn't respond, too prreoccupied with what he's doing. Ripping the air in half. With a final push of effort, the turtle succeeds, sending a wink and reassuring smile back at the pair before his body bursts into brillaint rays and flakes of golden light. Leaving a bright, gloden circle floating in the space he once stood.

It hurts.

It hurts so fucking bad.

He can't breathe. He can't think.

He doesn't have time to think.

There's more of those beasts encircling them.

And he knows he's dying. He's already lost too much blood.

But there's a kid with him. And whatever lies beyond that portal is better than this hell.

He grabs his shoulder, throwing him roughly toward the portal, sending him through alone.

And it hurts.

And then the beasts are upon him. They leap at him and he blocks, using his large prosthetic as a makeshift shield. Another tries to flank him but his sword slices through its jaw. They're coming for him. The wolves circling their injured prey.

And he's terified. He can't keep this up. They'll rip him apart. Piece by piece. Tear into his flesh and soul. Just like before.

He glances up for a second, just as he feels one of the larger metal beasts step closer.

He doesn't get the chance to take a breath.

Its just heat.

Its just red.

[shredsandpatches]

This is the actual Faustus news I was going to post when I saw the previous article in the related stories section and had to drop that on tumblr! It's one of those things where people have been speculating for basically forever that someone else wrote the comedy bits in DF but nobody's really committed to anyone. So this is one of those things that maybe adds a tiny bit to our knowledge? Maybe?

On the other hand I never feel like I know enough about these sorts of stylometric methods to actually have an opinion about Freebury-Jones' conclusion, especially when you're talking about a playwright almost no one has heard of (the name did not ring a bell for me and I know more about Elizabethan playwrights than your average person, although the name of his best-known work did), and a play with a textual history as convoluted as that of Doctor Faustus, which comes down to us with two separate texts that are distinct enough that you can't conflate them, plus evidence that the play was expanded at one point after Marlowe's (and Porter's, if he truly was the collaborator) death and relatively persuasive arguments for the priority of both printed versions. I guess the fact that the analysis landed on an obscure collaborator rather than someone familiar is interesting. But, as I said, I don't really understand how this approach to authorship works, on a purely technical level.

All of this does remind me that one of these days I should try to cobble together my personal ideal performance text. Editors of the play have to pick one (I think most published editions these days are dual-text, although the one time I taught the play I had a logistical nightmare trying to make sure students got the A-text) but dramaturges can go with what works dramatically.

[cedefaci]

Foundations of the World: Gathering

So, I’m finally writing the DF-KHR Crossover that I swore I would write. Gathering is the part that deals with Tsuna and company meeting up with the DF crew.

Soon after breaking the Arcobaleno Curse, Tsuna and his Guardians are on a class trip to Chicago just as the events of Peace Talks go down.

A few central conceits: the Inheritance Arc never happened since Earth Flames don’t fit into the fused cosmology of this fic, which means that the Vongola Tenth Generation are still wearing Rings, not Vongola Gear; Haru is acting as Lambo’s proxy both to avoid conflict with Marcone and to reduce suspension of disbelief regarding how a five year old got on a class trip; Kyoko is an Active Sky and very willing to choose violence. The latter two divergences are the result of the CEDEF 10th Generation excelling in their chosen field. (thank you, Oregano)

The lights went out.

His Guardians immediately sprang into motion, leaping up from where they had been whiling away the time to project shields of Flame overlapping like a three-sided pyramid—Hayato’s Storm, Takeshi’s Rain, and Haru’s Lightning, to disintegrate or stop or block any attack. Even niisan was more serious than usual, taking his place in the bodyguard formation that Reborn had drilled them in every day since Tsuna’s future assassination.

“Is this what we’re waiting for, Tsuna?” Takeshi asked, as casually as if they were just watching tv, if not for the hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Tsuna had been jittery and on edge all day, and it had only gotten worse after the sun had set, to the point that Reborn had outright told them to stay together in a single room with the curtains drawn, a few illusions from Chrome settling the chaperoning teachers’ objections before Tsuna could protest.

The sense of impending doom he had been feeling since the plane touched down in Chicago (scratch that, he’d had a bad feeling about everything since the teacher had announced that they were going on a class trip to America that had Vongola’s fingerprints all over it) had grown until his Intuition was screaming at him about imminent danger. And it was still screaming.

“No.” Tsuna shook his head, “It’s not over yet.”

“Boss…” Chrome said from beside him, ready to fake their deaths the moment an attack came, “It’s dark outside.”

It was. Tsuna looked out into the night.

Chicago was a big city, much bigger than Namimori, so big that it never slept. Tsuna hadn’t noticed the difference, but there weren’t any lights shining in through the uncovered windows of the bedrooms. There was no light at all, anywhere, save from the glow of his Guardians’ Flames.

Even ten years in the future, when the world was on the brink of collapse, there had been light.

“This is bigger than just us, isn’t it?”

“Are you saying or asking, Tsuna?” Reborn said up from behind him. Tsuna hadn’t noticed when Reborn had stopped pretending to sleep.

Tsuna drew a breath deep into his lungs. When he let it out again, his eyes were beginning to burn orange. “It is.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Hayato?” Tsuna asked, trusting that the genius had a better grasp of strategy than he did.

“Tenth?” Hayato turned his head towards him, then nodded. “Alright, Sasagawa, I need you check how far the outage extends, Chrome, hide us with a simple illusion, save your strength—and Kyouko, Jyuudaime, could you maybe check the phones? Sky Flames are about connection, so if there’s any chance that we can get communications up and running, it’ll be thanks to you.”

Tsuna nodded as Kyouko did, just as niisan made a noise of confusion. “Check how far the outage extends?”

Hayato made a face, stress making his temper even shorter than normal. “Go out, climb as high as you can with the stairs if the elevators aren’t running, and see if there’re lights anywhere, then come back! Be fast about it so we don’t end up assuming that you’ve been attacked.”

“Wait.” Kyouko interjected from where she had crouched down on the carpet and was trying to turn on a phone, “If Sky Flames boost connections, then Chrome, can you make communicators for us?”

Chrome frowned in concentration, but slowly nodded, “Yes, I think I can.”

“Good.” Kyouko abandoned the stubbornly black screen and stood up, “If you can manage it quickly, then niisan can wait for you to make him something so that he can keep in contact.”

“I’ll try.” Chrome turned to Tsuna, “Boss, can I see your earpiece?”

“En.” Tsuna unhooked Spanner’s earpiece and gave it to her, realizing that the mechanic’s technology, at least, wasn’t dead the way everything else was.

Chrome narrowed her eyes, the original in one hand and Mist condensing into a solid shape in the other. “Mukuro-sama…” She murmured under her breath, but he didn’t make an appearance.

Whatever help Mukuro was giving her, it wasn’t as major as possession.

“I need your Flames now.”

Kyouko offered Chrome her hand, warm orange fire flowing from her fingertips into Chrome’s palm, until the fuzzy edges of the Real Illusion turned sharp and substantial.

“This should work.” Chrome said, handing Tsuna his earpiece back and giving the new one to Ryohei, “But… um, I think you should test them first—just talk into one, you should receive the signal in the other.”

“Alright.” Tsuna cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered, “Niisan, can you hear me?”

“YES! I CAN EXTREMELY HEAR YOU, SAWADA!”

“Be quiet, Lawn-Head!” Hayato snapped in a furious hiss, attention darting frantically from the windows to the vents to the door and even to the walls, as if expecting a fully armed squad to burst out of the panelling, “And say something that Jyuudaime won’t be able to hear without his earpiece instead of shouting!”

“Can you hear me, Sawada?”

“Yes.” Tsuna answered.

“EX—treme!” Niisan remembered to be quiet halfway through his first word, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back!”

Niisan pumped his fist in the air, all grimness forgotten, and dashed out the door.

“Alright—,” Tsuna jarringly realized that the Flame shields were still up, “—uh, Hayato, Takeshi, Haru-chan, could you drop the barriers now? I don’t think we’re going to be attacked right now, and you need to save your strength.”

“Are you sure, Tsuna-kun?” Haru kept her hands up, Lightning crackling from the ring she had taken from Lambo, “The movies always have the bad guys come in just when you think you’re safe.”

Which seemed to be the same conclusion Hayato had arrived at, even if he clearly disagreed with Haru’s reasoning.

The all-encompassing darkness, the equally omnidirectional dread, and, now that Tsuna was listening, there were sounds of human distress at the edge of his hearing. He swallowed, “Yes. Whatever’s happening, it’s bigger than just us, we don’t need to worry about being targets yet…right?”

He tried to look to Reborn for guidance, but the now preschool-aged hitman only crossed his arms and smirked at him, “You’re the Boss now, Tsunayoshi. A Boss has to judge the risks and make the decisions himself.”

Aren’t you supposed to still be tutoring me? Tsuna complained in his head, but nodded. “Alright. Then we’ll wait for niisan to come back, then we’ll head down and see if we can help our classmates.”

[escaleraautomatica]

Sunset Valley Full Renovation: Day 1

I've been playing TS3 since its release date and I'm TIRED of seeing these fugly sims every single time I create a new save file. I, of course, have tried with some DF (hair, makeup, clothes, environment, etc.), but sometimes it either 1. looks bad and bugs, or 2. I just don't see myself satisfied with how they look. So I started a brand-new save file in Sunset Valley to modify EVERY SINGLE SIM and HOUSE where they live. It might sound hard (because it is), but I'm using this mission to learn more and more about building and creating sims since I suck at both.

I started with the Single Moms family since I love all of them with all my heart. I aged up Sandi since, in my game with my settings, she would just grow up the next in-game day and I would lose all my progress. By reading all their bios I tried to keep them as similar as the originals (colors, hair length, etc.). I know I said I also modified their houses, but I ain't showing that because taking all the screenshots I need is way more tiring than I expected.

After I completed them, I went with Agnes and her house. Her house was actually nice, so I just made sure to put some more lights since it was so dark, even in the day. I was done with her house, so I started modifying her. I tried to keep her face structure intact. I changed her clothes to some pants and a sweater. It looked great. Out of a whim, I put her an eyebrow piercing. And I made sure she had some sort of a wedding/engagement ring so it signifies she was still mourning the death of her husband.

I went on with the project with Christopher Steel. When I was a teen I would ALWAYS make this man marry my sim. I aged up eventually and realized he looked like a potato. I always wanted to modify him, so now it was my moment, and I'm afraid I ate 💋💅 His face is brand new. I wanted to make sure he looked like the womanizer of Sunset Valley, so he had to be hot and buffed up since he's not rich. Again, I kept his eye, skin and hair color.

I followed my journey with one of the hill families. The Landgraab family was the victim first. I hated how Nancy looked. I know she might now not look old money, or even rich at all, but I couldn't find a way to make her look old money and pretty at the same time. The other two boys in the family had some face modifications done, but nothing out of the ordinary. A tip to make cute child and teen sims: age them up to Young Adults to modify their faces so you can make the one you imagine them to have when they grow up. You won't have any potato-looking teens or adults (ARLO FRIKING BUNCH).

That was all I did for day one. My game closed like 5 times, but it was worth it! I'll continue with more of this soon :)

My stuff (I have a bunch more):

Hair DF: FirefoxSims and Mary Jane defaults (Also a few IfcaSims DF)

Makeup DF: SLU Sims 3 defaults (I couldn't find the link?)

Eyes DF: BurtnWaffles Big Q Eyes 24 Default replacements.

Skin DF: Pixelswirl Orchard Default Skins.

LazyDuchess SmoothPatch

NRaas NoCD, NRaas Once Read, NRaas Register, NRaas Saver, NRaas Sleep Freedom, NRaas Story Progression, NRaas Tagger, NRaas Writen Word, NRaas Woohooer, NRaas Master Controller, NRaas Master Controller Cheats, NRaas Careers, NRaas Debug Enabler.

[fearfully-fiction]

St. Albans pt.2- Dakota Laden x Reader

word count: 3786

warnings: fluff? angstish. TW: mentions of suicide (if any of you feel this way at all i really do encourage you to talk to somebody. it’s a hard thing to do, it can be scary but a lot of the time holding things in is scarier. call a hotline please, talk to somebody know you’re so loved and needed by so many. I'm here for you, I love you all)

Summary: based on season 1 episode 4 of DF so all credit to the crew, the dhow and the channel! Reader and the team head into the sanatorium and begin to explore. Reader gets increasingly worried for Dakota and her friends.

part1! part3! part4!

(not my gif!)

You awoke to Dakota gently shaking you to rouse you from your sleep. 

“Babe, we’re close to the location. It’s time to get up ok,” he informed you. You groaned sleepily and he chuckled while smoothing your messy hair. “How close?” you asked. 

“About ten minutes.” he kissed your forehead and chuckled when you rolled away from him. “Alright, alright I’m up.” you declared as you reluctantly stood up and stretched. He walked towards you and wrapped his arms around you. You leaned into his embrace and he placed his cheek atop your head. He let go and went to sit with the others as you headed to the bathroom to fix your hair and try not to look like you just woke up from a 30-year coma. 

You walked out and smiled at them all, “Hey guys, are you excited?” you asked. 

“Well, that’s definitely not the word I would use for it. I’m more freaked out than excited.” Tanner answered your question. “I’m fucking terrified, you and I haven’t been there before. Dude I’m freaking out.” Alex spoke up and you nodded your head vigorously. They all chuckled at your reactions. “Yeah, I know I said you could handle yourselves but damn, I am still worried,” you admitted to them. “We’ll be alright babe,” Dakota reassured and put his arm across the back of the seat and this time you leaned into him. You reached over your shoulder and interlocked your fingers with his, and he smiled down at you. Chelsea noticed this and smiled softly at her little brother. 

--

Everything was silent as you came upon the building you’d be staying in for the night, you could see the look of anger and annoyance on Chelsea’s face as she shook her head. 

 You exited the RV with all of your gear, and you stood next to Chelsea giving her hand a squeeze to let her know you were there for her. She looked at you with a grateful smile and you nudged her shoulder playfully. 

You walked up the steps and into the old building letting out a heavy sigh as you assessed your surroundings. You all set up your gear room quickly, wanting to get started with the night as quickly as possible. Though you dreaded the hours ahead of you, you couldn’t help your idiotic curiosity. 

“Now we’re about to walk through St. Albans Sanatorium for the second time in our lives.” your boyfriend announced to the audience. You and Alex gave each other a look as if silently communicating how crazy Dakota was for doing this. 

“Should we get started?” you asked “I’ll leave it up to Chelsea,” Dakota gave his sister the decision. 

You turn towards Chels, ready to hear her answer. “Where do you want to start?” He asked. She contemplated for a few seconds before deciding to go upstairs. “Let’s go upstairs,” you all agreed. “Let’s go up, then work our way down.” your boyfriend said. “Alright, here we go.” you huffed. 

You all slowly made your way up the stairs with you falling to the back of the group. Letting your eyes try and adjust to the dark, and the small screen showing your surroundings. You stepped up the last step and up onto the second floor and continued down the hallway with your small flashlights illuminating small portions of it. Alex noticed you weren’t in front of him and stopped. You didn’t notice him stop and ran into him and jumped. “Shit!” you yelped and it caused everyone to let out shouts. They all turned towards you with wide eyes Dakota making his way towards you.” Are you ok? What happened?” he shot out questions. Your eyes were wide but suddenly you let out a laugh. When you realized you had just run into Alex, your laughter made everyone look at you in confusion. “What are you laughing about?” Tanner asked while letting out a heavy sigh. “I just ran into Alex that’s all. I didn’t see that he had stopped. I’m sorry everyone.” you let out small giggles as you apologized. They all looked at you and sighed in relief. “You scared the crap out of me,” Chelsea spoke up. “I’m sorry Chels.” you gave a shy shrug. “Why did you stop Al?” you asked. “I didn’t see you in front of me and got worried,” he admitted. “Aw, well I’m ok. Just fell to the back of the pack that’s all,” you said and nudged him with your shoulder. “Ok, that’s not happening come up here,” Tanner said and grabbed your wrist to gently pull you in front of him and Alex. 

Chelsea reached out to grab your hand and keep you next to her. 

You all stopped in the middle of the second floor with Dakota asking if anyone was up there. Everything was quiet and then a loud clatter happened from above you, all of you jumped and you squeezed Chelsea’s hand. 

“That was up there,” Tanner spoke. “That was up on the third floor.” your boyfriend jumped in. 

Tanner began to walk up the stairs but quickly came back down. “Dude, there was another step.” he spit out. “What seriously?” you questioned while backing up a bit. He nodded his head, and you shook your head. “No way in hell, am I going up there,” you announced. 

Tanner stepped forward once again to go up the stairs. You always did wonder how he could do that. “How do you have the courage to do this right now?” Dakota asked in disbelief, pretty much stating your thoughts. 

Dakota looked at you all before following Tanner up the stairs. “These boys are gonna be the death of us I swear Chelsea. Your brother is crazy,” you stated quietly. “Tell me about it, you’re the one who is dating him,” she said. “Touche,” you replied. 

When you reached the third floor you pulled your jacket tighter around you and spoke up. “It’s so much colder up here.”

“Isn’t heat suppose to rise?” Your boyfriend concluded your thought.

“Yeah,” Tanner responded. “This is weird,” Dakota said. 

Then out of nowhere another loud noise was heard. You jumped and grabbed Dakota’s arm. 

“Whoa, whoa what the hell was that!?” you exclaimed. “What? What is it?” Chelsea questioned hurriedly. 

Tanner moved backward and away from the door. 

“That was behind you. That was right behind you!” Dakota called out.  You buried your face in your boyfriend’s arm. “No way. No way. No way. I am not going up there, Kota.” he turned toward you and pulled you into a hug while kissing your head. “I’ll be right there babe, I won’t let anything hurt you ok?” you look up at him and can see the sincerity in his eyes though the light is barely enough to make anything out. You nodded your head, “Ok…” you agree. 

He reached down to give your hand a squeeze before turning back to face the doorway. Another creak sounded and made you all jump. 

“Is there someone up there?” Chelsea wondered aloud. 

So Dakota asked the question. "Is there somebody up here?” 

“Honest to God. Is there someone up here?” He questioned once again. 

Tanner called out. “Hey! Quiet!”  you all waited with bated breath for a few seconds before Dakota decided to continue. 

“Just beware you guys. This is, like, one of the more haunted floors, too,” he explained and walked behind Tanner who was now leading the group. Chelsea walked a bit ahead of you and you stayed back with Alex. “Hey Al, you doing ok?” you asked your best friend. 

He turned his camera down to look at you. “I’m doing ok. Not exactly having fun, but what’s new, ya know?” he answered you. You chuckled and agreed with a nod. “I totally understand. I just hope this isn’t our ‘last stop’.” you joked lightly trying to get a smile out of him. “Oh, wow that really helped ease my conscience (y/n).” he tossed back at you. 

You looked ahead of you. “Oh, shit we’re being left behind,” you said and jogged ahead with Alex behind you. You heard from down the hallway. 

“Oh, my god, it’s the suicide bathroom!” you hear Tanner exclaim. You get to where they are and look in disbelief at the room where people decided to end their lives. It made you so sad, knowing that people went there because they didn’t want to live anymore. (if any of you feel this way, please talk to someone. Don’t hold it in let someone help you, don’t be scared or ashamed to ask for help it’s a really brave thing to do. I’m here for you if you ever just want to talk. I love you all) 

“That’s where it’s coming from,” Tanner explained. “So, what just happened?” Your boyfriend asked. You came in and stood by Chelsea. 

“Well, to be honest, it actually sounded like there was an actual person walking around here,” he explained to everyone what he thought it was. “That’s what it sounded like to me too,” you stated. “But there’s no one here,” he said. 

“That’s weird,” Dakota said. “Yeah, it really is.” you agreed. 

Chelsea sat on the chair outside of the bathroom while Dakota headed in to check it out. 

You stood outside by her. “Chels, this place…” you trailed off. “I can’t explain it. It’s just, it’s so sad Chelsea.” you expressed to her. You felt tears come to your eyes. She reached for your hand and held it comfortingly. “I know, it’s so sad up here.” she agreed with you. 

You looked around with your camera and showed the old walls encasing the intense energy from the spirits that still lingered there. 

You heard your boyfriend speak from inside the bathroom. “Woah. my ear is just ringing,”  he said. “Really?” Tanner asked. You furrowed your brows. 

“Dakota, are you ok?” you questioned with worry in your voice. 

“Oh,” Dakota’s jaw cracked. 

“Ooh, I just heard your jaw crack,” Tanner said

“That was weird.” your boyfriend said.

 You moved from your position and walked toward the bathroom. You politely asked Tanner if you could get by and moved forward to your boyfriend’s side. “Babe, are you ok?” you asked while placing your hand on his shoulder and rubbing up and down his arm in a comforting manner.  “Yeah, I’m ok it’s just weird that’s all,” he said. 

Tanner moved away from the doorway, and you turned your flashlight on. You reached your hand up and placed it on Dakotas cheek, gently running your thumb over his jaw. “You sure babe, do you need a break?” you asked affection and worry blatant in your tone. 

“No, no I’ll be ok,” he reassured you and kissed your head. “You better be telling the truth, Dakota Laden,” you warned him. “I am, I’ll be ok I promise,” he said and you leaned up to kiss his jaw before nodding and turning to exit the small bathroom. 

You walked out and joined the rest of the group. You all decided that it was a good time to take a seat and see if you could communicate with anything/anyone. 

“Alright. So right now. We are sitting on the ground right next to the suicide bathroom, Which is behind Tanner and (y/n).”  Dakota said. You looked around the room hoping to make something out in the dark. 

“Rebecca, are you here?” He spoke up once again. You were just thinking in your head about how hard her situation was. Once again tears came to your eyes, and your chest began to feel heavy. 

You tried to calm your breathing before speaking. “Rebecca, if you’re here, I want to tell you how sorry I am that you went through all of the things you did.” you let out with a shaky breath. You could feel Tanner’s eyes shift over to you. The room was silent. “(y/n), are you ok?” he asked and placed a hand on your back. You jumped at his touch but sighed in relief when you realized it was just him. You cleared your throat. “Um, yeah… I just, it’s so sad up here. I can’t even imagine how she felt.” you relayed your thoughts for the group. “I know, it’s so heavy in here. I can’t begin to even try to understand all of this.” Chelsea spoke. You wiped your tears and tried to calm yourself down. Silence ran rampant in the room, all of you sitting and hoping for a response. 

After a while, Dakota spoke up. 

“It’s weird though, like,  we came up here, we heard a bunch of noises just at the top of the stairs right there. and we get to the bathroom here and it’s just silent.” you nod though he can’t see you. 

“I don’t know what that means.” he finished. 

You sat for a few more seconds before you all decided it was time to move on. Tanner got up first and held out his hand to help you up. You gladly took it and thanked him. 

The flashlights were turned on again to head downstairs. Tanner looked down at you with a careful look in his eyes. You could feel his protectiveness canvassing the area as he stood by you. “Are you ok (y/n)? I know it was especially hard for you up there,” he asked with a protective hand resting on your shoulder. “I think so. I don’t know why it hit me so hard, it just all of a sudden came crashing down on me,” you answered genuinely. He wrapped his arm around you in a side hug. “I’m not sure either, but it will be ok,” he reassured you and you hugged him back before following the others down the stairs. 

“Well, let’s take the staircase down to the electroshock therapy room,” Dakota instructed before heading down the stairs first, Chelsea went next, and Tanner followed her. After them, you headed down as well which left Alex to the back of the pack. When you got down the stairs you turned around to check on him and make sure he was doing ok seeing as neither of you had been there before. “You ok?” you checked on him. “Yeah, I’m doing ok. How are you doing? It was pretty rough for you up there.” “I’m ok now, it was just so heavy up there it was hard to think about all that had happened in that room.” he nodded. “Yeah, I agree.” 

“I still can’t believe we agree to this shit.” He said quietly to you, and you chuckled softly. “I know, we really need to set some boundaries.” you joked. “I don’t understand us,” he said while shaking his head. “Neither do I Al, neither do I.” You trailed off with a smile on your face and a shake of your head. 

“Oh gosh, it’s heavier down here,” Dakota stated as you all hit the bottom of the staircase. “This is the electroshock therapy room. I remember this place.” you all wandered into the room where you ended up next to Dakota. “Oh, the hospital bed,” he said and you turn your camera to show the bed. It gave you chills knowing how many people were hurt and tortured down there. 

“People had to endure this…” you breathed out. “It’s torture.” Dakota turned to look at you silently assessing your state, wanting to make sure you were doing ok. 

He nudged your arm and began to walk around the bed to make room for everybody else. You followed suit and once again stood by his side feeling the safest next to him. 

You decided to be the one to ask. 

“Is there anyone down here with us?” the question left your lips and hung in the air. You once again got no responses and decided to move forward with the investigation. 

Dakota made sure to keep you closer to him than he had been, seeing as he was getting a bad feeling as you went further into the building. 

He held his camera with one hand and juggled his flashlight in the other while trying to grab your hand as well as hold the light. It almost made a smile break out on your face as he desperately tried to make it work. Instead, you decided to hold onto his wrist so he could keep the light in his hand. He looked down at you and smiled. “I think that’s a solution that will suffice,” you said and let your thumb gently rest over where you could feel his steady pulse beneath his skin. 

You continued on your way. 

“Alright. So the subbasement is where the demonic spirit named Red is.” Dakota pointed out as you furthered your descent. 

“Oh no, I don’t like this. I don’t like this.” Your boyfriend expressed. “I don’t either it feels intimidating down here. I can see part of the reason people don’t come down here.” you clarified your weariness. 

“This is the notorious boiler room,” Dakota said as you all entered the dark room. 

“Is there anybody down here?” he asked as you all settled into your positions. Your head rested on Dakota’s shoulder. “Do you not want us down here?” he asked another question. Still, the silence was all you received. “Can you touch one of us?” he questioned. Your eyes widened at his inquiry. “Dakota please be careful,” you whispered to him. “Nothing has happened everything is just fine babe.” he tried to soothe you. You rolled your eyes and let out a sigh. “Just please be careful,” you advised once again. “I will be.” he kissed the top of your head. 

 Exiting the room you all continued down the hallway with your flashlights pointed ahead of you. 

This time it was you in the lead, you had no idea where you were going but Dakota had his hand resting on the small of your back ushering you forward. 

He then walked ahead of you with his camera up. “This is the infamous bowling alley.” he described. 

You walked further into the room and a feeling of being watched immediately washed over you and so you slightly hid behind your boyfriend in an attempt to comfort yourself. 

Without warning an unexplainable voice was sounded through the quiet room. Your eyes widened as you got closer to your boyfriend. 

“Woah did you hear that?” Tanner inquired in either curiosity or fear, you couldn’t tell. 

You looked up at Dakota just to see him donning a look of discomfort. “Dude my ear is ringing again,” he stated and you moved to face him. You put your flashlight in a pocket and reached up to place a hand on his face. “Are you ok Kota?” you asked with anxious eyes. 

“Dude, that was a little voice. Guys did you not hear that voice?” Tanner asked while turning to look at you guys. “Oh, are you ok?” he worriedly wondered. “My ear is just ringing.” Tanner took long strides toward you Chels and Kota. “The second you heard that my ear started ringing again this time it’s my right ear,” Dakota stated. You looked up at him with unease. “Babe, maybe we should get you out of here for a while. Get you some fresh air,” you suggested soothingly. Before he could respond to your suggestion Tanner speaks up. “Dude, what?” he asked in disbelief. 

He made a noise of discomfort and you looked to Chelsea who had the same amount of worry in her eyes. “Are you…” Tanner was cut off by Dakota speaking up. “I’m ok.” he tried to set everybody at ease. “Ok.” Tanner wearily stated. 

“I’m ok. I don’t know what’s going on.” still your suggestion was swept under the rug. 

He took a step away from you. “I just feel like whatever’s down here is just waiting. It knows we’re gonna be here for a long time.” Dakota let the words slip from his mouth. His words gave you chills. It made you think about how true it was, and what it would do to you if you came down here alone to sleep. 

Having enough of the bowling alley you all made your way back upstairs until Tanner brought everything to a halt. 

“hold on a second. Stop.” he pauses on the way up. “What, what is it?” you ask eagerly. 

“Yo, Al come over here.” Alex walks up next to Tanner behind Dakota. 

“Dude,” Alex said in shock. You looked at him with scared eyes and tried to get a look at what they were seeing. “What?”  Dakota asked anxiously. 

“There’s a handprint,” Tanner explained what he was seeing on Dakota’s jacket. You looked at it and your heart sped up, your worries for his and their safety were beginning to amplify. 

“There’s a handprint on your back babe,” you answer in shock and awe of what you were seeing. 

“What does it look like?” Dakota asked. You came to stand in front of him again. 

“Dude, it’s a thumb, finger, finger, finger, pinkie.” both Tanner and Alex describe to him. 

Dakota tried to look back to maybe get a glimpse of the marking. 

“Are you serious?” he questions startled. “Swear to God, dude,” Tanner assures. 

“I mean, put your arm down.” Dakota lowers his arm to his side. “Yeah like that. That looks like if I went like this.” he raised his hand. “Here. I’m just gonna put it over. It’s gonna ruin the mark, but we got the mark.” he moved his hand forward and placed it on his back. “It looks like this,” Tanner told everyone while demonstrating. 

“I mean, it’s even bigger than my hand.” you tried to swallow your fear as you reached for his hand. He held it tightly in his own. “What?” he questioned. “I did just say “Can you touch one of us?” “ you let go of his hand and turned away. “I knew you should’ve been more careful,” you mumbled to yourself. 

Your head snapped back up as his voice rose. “Woah! Woah! My battery is about to die.” he showed it to the camera that Tanner held. Chelsea saw the distress written on your features and walked over to you as the boys continued to freak out. 

She wrapped her arm around your shoulder and you leaned into her for comfort. 

“We haven’t had a camera die all night,” she said. “I know…” you trailed off before escaping her grip. They all looked to you with worried eyes as you stood in eerie silence.

After everything, Dakota decided it was best to take a break. You couldn’t agree more. 

--

Taglist:

@jaziona92 @beautybyfire​

@thefandomthings​

[eaglebearingmedjay34]

If Luffy is the amalgamation of Tonatiuh/Huitzilopochtli then I believe Law as his rival is the amalgamation of Itzlacoliuhqui/Tlaloc. I’ve been away for awhile, but I’m back on my bullshit. Believe it or not there is an Aztec god of ice. Itzlacoliuhqui is the god (teotl) of ice, winter, justice, sin, punishment, human misery, obsidian, the North, death.

Frost, Ice, Cold, Winter: Something I noticed about Law is just how much of connection he has with the cold. His entire demeanor is the complete opposite of Luffy and I believe that is for good reason. Luffy is warm, jovial, friendly, etc. He sails on a ship called the Thousand Sunny which launches in the sky via Coup de Burst. Law’s personality is cold, calculating, and distant. He rides in a submarine instead of a ship which takes him into the depths of the ocean away from the Sun. 

In fact his connection to the ice/snow goes as far back as his early days of Flevance. It was originally known as the White City because the Amber Lead accumulation and people said it looked like a snowy country out of a fairy tale. He even acquires his DF abilities on an island with a snowy climate and strangely at night. Also, just look at his crew they’re all associated with the cold in some way the most noticeable is his navigator Bepo, a polar bear.

Human Misery & Punishment: Law has one of the saddest backstories in the One Piece world. He lost everyone and everything he loved. Being met with so much tragedy at a young age turned him into a nihilistic individual and he wanted to punish everything for the misery he had to endure. That would change once he was befriended by the kindly Corazon. However, he would encounter tragedy again with Corazon’s death.

The North: This one is pretty self-explanatory. Law was born in the North Blue. Itzlacoliuhqui was connected to the North because of his association with the cold. While he was his own god, Itzlacoliuhqui was also an aspect or disguise of Tezcatlipoca whose primary direction was the North and was also closely associated with the cold. His primary colors were Black & Yellow with the former being his most associated color.

Obsidian: Itzlacoliuhqui was strongly associated with obsidian. In fact one of the translations of his name means “Curved Obsidian”. Other researches object and believe it translates to “Plant-Killer Frost” Obsidian was used all over Mesoamerica for very pretty much everything. It was especially used for surgery and for extracting hearts for sacrifice. The Aztecs were known for their advancements in health practices so much it astounded the Spaniards. Though it is brittle obsidian is much sharper than even surgical steel. 

Law has wanted to become a doctor specifically a surgeon even while a child. His epithet is the “Surgeon of Death” and his DF allows him to cut through pretty much everyone or everything with ease. Almost as if cut by obsidian. I’d also like to point out I believe the whole thing with swords turning black in the OP world has to be connected to real-life obsidian. 

Justice: Itzlacoliuhqui represented blind justice as can be seen with the blindfold covering his eyes. Law has a subtle, but strong association with justice. His adoptive father was a Marine commander and his adoptive grandfather was the former Marine Fleet admiral. There’s also the theory he might be a secret member of SWORD which sounds very plausible. It’s also quite interesting his name is Law and his zodiac sign is Libra the Scales of Justice.

Death: Itzlacoliuhqui was connected to death because he acted as the cleaner for new life to emerge. This is the reason he holds a straw broom in his hand because using the broom was to sweep clean away everything including sins. In fact there was even a festival dedicated to sweeping clean everything called the Ochpaniztli which was dedicated to Itzlacoliuhqui.

The Moon: Itzlacoliuhqui was also a lunar deity. Pretty much any deity with a nose ring was associated with the moon in some fashion. The nose ring was crescent shaped like the moon.

[dndeed]

Crit Role Miniature Rollout: C2E129

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and review of the minis used on CR.

Another tense fight in a long line of recent tense fights. Reviewing the combat footage I was struck by how upbeat everyone was at the sight of the wonderful map. And then how suddenly that mood changed. Very dramatic shift in tone and very dramatic episode in general.

Half damage is still damage, it’s time for Crit Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 2 Episode 129!

The List

Mats by Mars: Molten Crust Tabletop Wargaming Play Mat

Chest and Trove 5E Condition Rings

Dwarven Forge Hellscape 

Dwarven Forge Hellscape Magma River

Dwarven Forge Terrain Tray Multi-Pack (Rough Stone/Acid)

Dwarven Forge Zaltar’s Gameroom furniture accessories

Dwarven Forge Pathfinder Plaguestone - Alchemy Lab Accessories

Tiny Furniture Dark Magister Workplace

Dungeon Lair Tables and Chairs Accessory Set Chairs

Crown of Fangs Dressing: Rectangular Table

Mantic Games Terrain Crate: Wizards Study Bookcase

Steamforged Mighty Nein Miniatures

D&D Spell Effects: Halaster’s Tumultuous Templates

Arcknight 5E Wizard Spell Effects

Baldur’s Gate Descent Into Avernus #034 Sylvira Savikas

Crown of Fangs #008 Halfling Rogue 

Unknown Yeza miniature

Maze of Death - Fire Elemental Lord

Elemental Evil #028 Fire Elemental

The Terrain

I predicted Dwarven Forge Hellscape for episode 101. What a prediction, a mere 28 sessions off, lol. I’ll take a “within 1/5th of the campaign” margin of error. Well this episode we actually got some Hellscape lava Episode III action.

To summarize, this map is scatter terrain from Tiny Furniture, Mantic Games, Pathfinder Battles, Dwarven Forge, on various DF Hellscape sets, magnetized to metal DF Terrain Trays, all atop... you guessed it, A MATS BY MARS RPG MAT! Mats by Mars: Molten Crust to be exactly. And what a glamorously treacherous mat it is. Use my code: DNDEED0321 for 10% off your matsbymars.com order.

But back to the 3D elements of this Battle Matt battle map, Hellscape is an awesome Dwarven Forge set recently Kickstarted and current available in their webstore. All the pieces in the set mix and match together super seamlessly and also pair well with the older DF cave sets. It’s also a surprisingly useful set. Adventuring parties are constantly going to hellish, lava filled locations. And constantly falling into lava, I’ve lost two barbarians this way.

The Nonplayer Characters

Luc Brenatto Crown of Fangs #008 Halfling Rogue Mini image sourced from paizo.com Marion Lavorre Baldur’s Gate Descent Into Avernus #034 Sylvira Savikas Mini image sourced from minigallery.com Yeza Brenatto Unknown

Wow, “Halfling Rogue”, what a creative name. There are so many minis called “Halfling Rogue”. There are already several Halfing Rogue models that have been used in Campaign 2. Toya from Episode 1 and 3 is portrayed by another Halfling Rogue model for example. This specific Pathfinder Halfling Rogue was actually used as one of the circus crowd minis in the Campaign 2 premiere. It’s a fun model. Cool hat, cool muttonchops, even cool halfling foot muttonchops.

Regarding Yeza’s mini, I have no idea what model this is (it’s the one barely visible to the right of Marion). It’s very tough to see on the ol’ DF B-Cam. It’s a small size category base, probably a halfling or gnome. But really the size category hardly narrows it down, could be a svirfneblin or gerblin... or svirfgerblin for all I know. I browsed through a list of D&D and PF models with halfling/gnome in their name, and couldn’t really find anything that seemed to match. So, while I do not have a formal Yesa mini identification, I do have a formal Yesa mini recommendation: Kingmaker #014 Jubilost, Gnome Alchemist.

Jubilost, Gnome Alchemist image sourced from minigallery.com

I put together and ran an adventure entitled Attack on Felderwin for the summer of 2019 Seattle Critters One Shot Meetup. Here’s a copy paste of the adventure overview:

The Dynasty’s intelligence network has identified a target of extreme strategic importance. A war criminal and Dwendalian Empire collaborator known as the Vile Alchemist. Intel indicates that this individual (known locally as Yeza Brenatto) has partnered with imperial arcanists to develop a weapon that perverts the dunamantic power of the Luxon. This blasphemy shall not stand. As Krynn Dynasty Shadowhand operatives, it is up to you to locate, capture, and exfiltrate this target from his last known location in the imperial municipality of Felderwin. Good luck and light be with you!

It was great fun with a great group and featured a purple worm powered beachhead assault, the gravity well compression of an entire detachment of townguards, a duel with the Archmage of Antiquity herself, and a visit to the notorious Brenatto basement alchemy lab (including a sighting of the infamous chair). As you can see, Jubilost, Gnome Alchemist is the right scale, is a literal alchemist, has a beard, and is bespectacled. I’m not actually sure if Yeza has a full beard, but at the very least he has sideburns. A lot of fan art and cosplay features some facial hair. Now onto a miniature I do know the identity of.

This episode features the Ruby of the Sea portrayed by Baldur’s Gate Descent Into Avernus #034 Sylvira Savikas. Also a figure that was in a previous episode. It’s a good model which showed up in the Episode 89 fight club:

I own this model myself, I like it quite a bit. Crisp sculpt, tidy paint, overall delightful character design. Looking forward to the return of in-person gaming so I can shoehorn a well dressed tiefling NPC into a session. A very lucky random booster pull.

Guardian of the Sanctum Maze of Death - Fire Elemental Lord Mini image sourced from wizkids.com

The studio lighting really gave this figure a glow up, please pardon the pun. A rather righteous miniature with an unexciting factory paint job. This mini was originally bundled with an air elemental in a Pathfinder Battles Case Incentive set, this model is now also available as part of the unpainted Pathfinder line. The one on the show looks to be the prepainted version. It’s really awesome to see a powerful feminine elemental form. Fire elementals are generally beastial or man-ish looking. Hashtag I Need Diverse Games. And that extends to vaguely humanoid elementals as well. I’m here for this guardian elemental.

Guardian Triple Flame Form Elemental Evil #028 Fire Elemental Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

This registers somewhere on the beast-like segment of the elemental scale. I’m not a huge fan of the Elemental Evil D&D Wizkids set, but they do deliver on some good elementals, as the set title would suggest. I love the swirling, erupting, gas cloud explosion sort of appearance this sculpt and paint creates. Mighty fine fire elemental.

Closing Thoughts and Predictions

Maybe I’ll get another shot at IDing Yeza. But that may be unlikely, as I predict that the Mighty Nein will be doubling their efforts to protect their family members. Hopefully Yeza, Luc, and Marion won’t fine themselves on a battle map any time soon. In terms of map and mini usage predictions, I’m really not sure. Maybe some snow maps? At the very least that would be a refreshing change of climate and temperature.

See ya next ep!

#critroleminiaturerollout

[braziliancrimes]

Rape, murder and black magic: meet Lázaro Barbosa, the Brazilian serial killer

He is accused of killing more than 7 people and is wanted by a task force of more than 200 police.

In recent days, residents of the state of Goiás and the Federal District have been hiding in their homes in fear of possible attacks by the murderer Lázaro Barbosa.

The 32-year-old man is accused of carrying out a massacre in the rural area of Ceilândia, in the Federal District, where he killed a family of four. It is estimated that he has already murdered more than 7 people, and he has been wanted by the police ever since.

The search for Lázaro is being carried out by more than 200 police officers, including the intelligence service, and has been going on for more than 10 days.

The crimes

Lázaro already responded to a lawsuit for murder when he was approximately 20 years old in Barra do Mendes, in the interior of Bahia. According to witnesses, he would have fallen in love with a girl but was not reciprocated by her, who avoided him, so he started to pursue her. The girl managed to scream and was helped by two men. When Lazarus discovered the identity of the one who helped her, he killed them. Also, when he fled, Lázaro even put on his flip-flops to try to confuse the police.

He also has an arrest warrant against a conviction for rape and firearm robbery in Brasília; in addition to the suspicion of an ax attack on the head of an elderly man from Goiás. He was arrested in 2018 but escaped from prison shortly thereafter. In April, he broke into a house, took the family hostage, and raped a woman, and in May, he broke into another farm and held another family hostage. Cruel and sadistic, he left the victims naked and the women of the house were forced to serve him.

On June 9 of that year, businessman Cláudio Vidal, 48, and his two sons, aged 21 and 15, were shot and stabbed to death on a farm in the same area, in the Federal District. Claudio’s wife, Cleonice, was not found at the scene and on the same day, the police released his photo as a suspect. One day after this crime, in the morning, Lázaro Barbosa would have invaded another residence just three kilometers away from the farm of Claudio and Cleonice’s family. He kept the hostess and a man at gunpoint for three hours and forced them to smoke marijuana. He also stole around R$200 and cell phones before leaving the residence.

Days later, the woman’s body was found at the edge of a stream, without clothes and with signs of sexual violence. Furthermore, on the same day, Lázaro allegedly invaded a nearby farm, held the resident’s hostage, and fled using their car, which was abandoned and burned in the vicinity of Cocalzinho de Goiás, where he is suspected of taking shelter. While fleeing, he reportedly shot four people and set fire to a house, according to police reports.

On June 15, Lázaro took a person hostage in Edilândia (GO), which is in the same region as Cocalzinho, and exchanged shots with police officers. In the same city, the fugitive would have taken a couple and their daughter hostage, but the girl managed to ask for help and the police arrived in time to prevent further deaths, but Lázaro escaped. An agent was hit, but, according to the Secretary of Public Security of Goiás, Rodney Marques, the two shots that the agent suffered were only grazed, and he was fine after medical help.

The Security Secretary says that there is a method he uses when committing crimes: “He takes them to the riverbank, orders them to take off their clothes, and ends up killing.” That would have been the fate of the family, especially after he realized the girl had asked for help.

Lázaro was also investigated for the murder of a caretaker in Cocalzinho de Goiás. The crime would have occurred four days before the slaughter in Ceilândia. The man was shot dead, and the suspect did not take any of the victim’s belongings.

Since that day, the police have been looking for Lázaro in the woods and nearby farms, on the outskirts of Cocalzinho de Goiás. There have been more than 11 days of searches but without success.

These are the most well-known crimes, but the police are still trying to find out if others without authorship committed in the region could also have been realized by him.

But, after all, who is Lázaro Barbosa?

Lázaro Barbosa, 32, is known as the “DF serial killer” and has an extensive criminal record, as shown above. He was born in the city of Barra dos Mendes, in Bahia, a small town located just over 500 kilometers from the capital.

The killer has a history of alcohol and drug abuse, and on one of the occasions he was arrested, the psychological report made in the penitentiary also classifies him as a “psychopath”, with “impulsive, aggressive behavior, instability, and emotional dependence, concerns sexual and lack of control and balance”.

The criminal is a hunter known in the region and with great intimacy in areas of dense forest, the so-called “bushman”.

At his last residence, police found items and drawings that indicate black magic rituals. It is not yet known how long he lived there and if anyone else resided in the house.

More than 10 days of persecution? Because?

The secretary justifies the delay in capturing the suspect by saying that he has great knowledge of the region.

— He is born and raised here in this region, he is a bushman, he knows how to move like no one else, making our work difficult. This region has many farms, abandoned houses, pavement houses, and a large closed auxiliary forest, which disfavors those who are chasing and favors those who are from the region. This is our great difficulty.

Since last Saturday, more than 200 agents from the Federal District and Goiás have participated in the task force to capture the fugitive. The team also has the intelligence service and tactical force to identify the killer using heat sensors.

Your hatred for women

“He likes to rape women. His business is with women, anger is with women”

This was the speech of one of Lázaro’s victims, who preferred to remain anonymous. She also stated that he has a cold demeanor:

“Icy, very meticulous. He’s very cruel, he’s a barbarian and torturer,” she described. “His business is money, cell phones, but he takes advantage of it. He likes to humiliate the victims a lot. He has a bit of the psychopathy issue, he likes to subjugate women and undermine morale”.

According to several residents in the region, Lázaro is a rapist and torturer. He doesn’t empathize with anyone, not even women. It is estimated that he has already abused more than 2 girls and several rape attempts.

Lázaro’s letter

In a criminal hideout in the village of Edilândia, and Cocalzinho (GO), police found a letter written by the serial killer. In excerpts of the message written by Lázaro, it is possible to see quotes from “The Lord of the Rings”, where the suspect reflects on death and writes that “many people who are alive deserve to die”.

“Many who live deserve to die. Some who die deserve to live. Can you give them life? So don’t be too eager to judge and sentence to death. Even the many sages cannot see everything, like everyone who lives to see times like that, it’s not up to them to decide. We just have to decide what to do with the time allotted to us. There are other forces at work in this world besides the will of evil.”

[bomberqueen17]

Princess the Goat

Last night’s Witchering was amusing but somewhat marred by how purely gross and Written By A Man the entire Bloody Baron plot winds up being.

 It’s just one giant TW for miscarriage, abuse, domestic violence, etc. The only saving grace was that without either of us weighing in at all, DF kept picking the absolutely-least-sympathetic dialogue options as the Baron is blubbering about what an awful fucking person he is like he expects Geralt to console him. Listen, bud, you’re fucking gross, and Geralt’s not sorry for you. But... yeah, a man wrote that. 

We did have some amusing times before that. We cleared out the wraiths from the old Riordan manor, and found the skeleton walled up in the basement. (Grim.) The old lady was definitely scamming us, though-- there was no chest of treasures. We got a bunch of random shit but nothing that exciting. Which was fine, because the XP was what we were after, and after that we were a shiny new Level 5!

Riding around, we developed a way to get Roach to jump over fences. This method is that you get off the horse, climb over the fence yourself, walk a short distance, and then whistle, and Roach will come up again on the correct side of the obstacle so you can get back on her. She reminds me a bit of various horses I rode as a child, most of whom would do ridiculous things to avoid jumping over a basic obstacle, so in this respect she is very horse-like. However, I also never met a horse that would in any way come when called, so that remains disturbingly unrealistic. 

Then we went and found the pellar in the woods, who’d made an amulet for the baron’s missing wife. He turned out to be some bonkers guy in a coat decorated with chicken feet. We had to fast-talk some local jerks in order to get to him, but they were surprisingly amenable to Geralt’s personal charm and herb-lore and we did not have to level Axii up again to convince them. 

Of course the pellar sent us out to find his missing goat, Princess. What was genuinely entertaining about this bonkers-stupid quest is how fast Geralt changed his own attitude about it. He was skeptical of the pellar the whole time, but not so skeptical he wouldn’t do what the guy asked. And he found the goat, and was like “I have to ring this stupid bell the whole time?” and verbatim told the goat “Move, you piece of shit!” and then a bear attacks and he’s got to defend her and it’s kind of a tough fight but winnable, and then suddenly he’s super fond of this goat, and says they’re friends now, and says the goat is like Roach in that Roach doesn’t talk much and that’s what he likes in a friend. He says all of this in like, an ongoing running monologue as he’s leading this goat gently back to her pen.

It turns out the pellar does genuinely need Princess because he needs to use goat’s milk in the ritual he does to get the spirits to talk to him. And Geralt’s like... listening to this dude sounding like Linda Blair from the Exorcist, and he’s still like “Hm, I dunno if this guy is for real.”

But at some point he decides he is, and they seem to be buds after that. Like, Geralt is now Ride Or Die for this pellar, and also we finally bought another Water Essence so we can make Cat potion, whee!

Then we went back to the Baron’s place, and it’s on fire. Well that’s exciting. DF is hellbent on talking to the armorer, though, so. He goes in and there’s a cutscene and a guy is begging Geralt to save his brother from the burning stables, and Geralt’s like yeah sure I’ll do it, and the cutscene ends and Geralt’s immediately like hey, armorer, can you help me with this thing? and the whole dialogue has the fire light and bell ringing and whatnot and the armorer is completely unconcerned.

Anyway, we get the thing we wanted from the armorer and then run in and there’s the stable on fire, and there’s the Baron, and so we get immediately roped into a cutscene with the Baron and oh now we have to fistfight him? to the death? what the heck? and then he KILLS GERALT with his fists so we have to reload and what the heck was that??? so we have to punch the Baron until we beat him, and then there’s another cutscene and there’s no chance to save the horses and the stable boy and like. Come on! Anyway, the cutscene is super gross and upsetting, and we get through the whole thing and go back outside and the fire is out and DF is like, no.

SO he RELOADS from an earlier save, which is maybe the first time he’s actually resorted to that in this whole game? which given he’s in Death March is really saying something? so he can go back and try to save the horses. He actually steps back far enough that we lost the thing we did with the armorer, but this time he avoids the Baron on the way in so he can dive into this burning building and try to save the horses and the boy, and we hear the man shouting but can’t see him, and so we let the horses out and get the door open and-- 

BAM straight into the cutscene with the Baron, and he punches us to death again but fortunately the thing had autosaved right before the cutscene, so we just had to try again. For some reason, the Baron can kill Geralt with his fists far more easily than Geralt can render him unconscious-- and for that matter, far more easily than level 5 bandits with axes, the bear, the wolves, the drowners-- I mean, we had more trouble with the fucking Baron’s drunk fists than we had with basically any other foe. The final time through, the Baron’s health was on the last little tickmark on its bar and I started counting and Geralt punched him a full twenty-five additional times before he fell down. So that was super fucking annoying, but at least we could then skip through the dialogue.

“I should try other options in the dialogue tree,” DF said a bit wearily, poking the skip button as fast as he could, “but all of them involve being nicer to the Baron and I am Not Doing That.” (I hadn’t realized that all this was this quest, and so hadn’t really adequately warned them, but there’s been some... not-smooth-sailing in the reproductive adventures of this little family, and neither of them were exactly traumatized by the storyline but neither of them were psyched about the storyline either. Like... gross, man. If you’re going to write stories about that kind of shit you really ought to do it more sensitively than this. But, Written By Men, one thousand percent.)  (MM was like, “Man, no way did she run outta there right after that, I was on so much Percocet...” 

So, Fuck That Guy, to sum up. On that sort of not upbeat note, we went to bed. 

[raggydraws]

I feel like Mapleshade was one of the few cats in the DF who wasn't there because they are pure evil like.... she killed the people that she felt were involved in her kits' death and when they were dead she kinda just chilled until Crookedstar came along and when he wasn't involved with her anymore she just vibed by herself. She could have went after Stormfur or Feathertail bc she for sure knew about them (half-clan kits ring a bell) but she's just chilling now and watches shit from afar

Yeah Mapleshade was less "I'm just gonna murk people for the hell of it" and more like "im gonna murk these very specific people for my own personal reasons and then f off to nowhere"

Mapleshade was evil in her own circumstances, she still actively plotted murder so of course she should be in the Dark Forest by warrior code standards but like, she's chill. She never got a chance to change and grow from that, cause Blackstar definetly killed people but he's in starclan so

[writedaships]

The Plan That Kept Going Wrong. (surface fell Frans Ship)

 Inspired by: http://harosais1.tumblr.com/post/182790366946/fransweek-day-6-moving-forward-like-i-told (please go love their art.) The shouting was getting closer, Sans held onto Frisks smaller hand as he practically dragged her behind him. His legs were so much longer than hers.   How did they follow her? how did they find him? None of those mattered right now he and frisk needed to get away. Since the human population never liked monsters and wanted them wiped off this land, monsters were glad they grew up in a kill be killed the world. The only thing different now was that humans were hunting monsters and monsters were killing humans, well all except the savor of the monster kind, Frisk.

 Sans was too caught up in his thoughts he was practically yanked out of his mind as he heard a cry out in surprise than in pain, Frisk hand pulled on his hand and he pulled to steady her. If he hadn't had a grip like steel she would have fallen. From what sans could tell from glancing at her she was limping. Frisk must have stepped wrong and hurt her ankle or some shit along the line. They needed to get away and soon.  Without losing a step Sans tossed Frisk’s arm over his massive shoulders and scooped her up; as if she were a babybones. The shouting grew louder as he ran, more humans had joined the hunt "shit" sans cured under his breath. These humans never seemed to give up. Sans saw a street coming up, he took a sharp turn hoping to lose them. Maybe behind an ally or something but what sans saw made his SOUL drop. Cars had been piled up here, almost like a barricade. Sans swore. He had taken them into a dead end. Sans closed one eye and looked around becoming frantic, no shortcut insight.

A sharp BANG and something grazing his calf, made him stumble a bit. Sans looked back, holding his love protective to the middle of his chest. There was another BANG and a flash of the gun going off and sans felt another stinging graze. Shit, the mother fuckers had Guns. Not a first. Quickly he practically dropped frisk, shielding her behind him and dug is clawed fingers into the pavement and lifted with all his strength, Frisk realizing what he was doing jumped in beside him and helped lift, Just in time to when their Hunters opened fire.

Sans had no idea what kind of guns they were using, too dark, but they had to have some kind of magic to them, he had to use his whole weight to keep the thick slab of pavement up to shield them from the flying metal of death. Frisk clung to Sans to stay as covered as she could, the pavement had come up smaller than comfortable. Frisk had to almost cling to him as she kept a hand up to help steady their only protection.

((Sacrifice))

Then Sans saw it only a few feet ahead of him, A shortcut. It was kind of hidden by a car door, so its no wonder Sans didn't see it in his hurried panic. Sans looked down at Frisk. He could see her ankle, thou mostly covered, was bigger than the other. She wasn't walking on that, anytime soon. Sans looked back up at the shortcut then felt another round of bullets. They were getting closer, there was no way they were getting there without him getting dusted and her getting hurt...

Then it hit him, ... only one of them was going to make it out of this alive. And by hell was it going to be him. She still had so much more life in her, She IS going to make it.

Sans must have had a look in his eyes because frisk locked eyes with him. Red eyes full of worry and... dread *Sans what are you- But before Frisk could finish Sans scooped her up again and made a dead RUN for the short cut. Sans was practically there when he felt three hot pains hit him dead in the back but he only staggered before making it the last few steps he waved his free hand and tossed Frisk through the code. She rolled from momentum back hitting the couch on the other side of the room. *SANS Frisk looked back at the window in the code at Sans, her love. He smiles at her through the pain, sharp gold tooth gleaming in the ominous light of the living room, but Frisk could see the resolve and masked fear in Sans's eye lights... as the small red tear falling from his left eye.

Frisk crawled on the floor towards him, she tried to get up, tried to get to him, get back to Sans. But the way was already closing as Sans' magic already began to fail as he took another few hits to the spine.

"sorry...Sweetheart" he gave a small wave, with that he dusted. The way closed with a snap, for good. Frisk went into hysteria...

Frisk was crying Sans's name again and again soon she heard footsteps, then she felt a warm embrace and the smell of cinnamon butterscotch filled her nose. But they weren't San’s. A Blinding gold light filled her eyes.

*RELOAD TO LAST SAVE FILE

((Sad Ending))

Frisk body jolted as she clung to sans she looked up into his strong eyelights. Hand clenching her chest. Sans caught her eyes and he saw the red determined glint in her eye.

THERE WAS ONLY WAY OUT OF THIS, SANS NEEDS TO BE STRONGER.

"Sweetheart, I don't like that look in your eyes," Sans said coldly.

*then your really not going to like, what I do next.

That was all she said before shoving something red into his hand, kiss him on the cheek, then ran out from their shelter, gunshots rang in the air, a thump hit the floor and sans felt his bone go cold and his hand absorbed the red object...  F r i s k' s  s o u l.

*Sans

*level up

*LV 15

*ATK 20

*DF 10

*HP 20/5

*A determined soul whispers "Give them Hell I'll see you soon" within his soul.

Sans felt the pavement fall, “you sons of A BITCH! YOU’RE DUST!”

The world went RED

The next thing Sans was standing in Red, hand bloodied HP only at 15 and a whole more EXP then he wanted right now as rest of the glowing tears fell from his sockets, not stopping. But he didn't bother to wide them away. As he came back to his senses, his knees buckled under the realization of what just happened hit him. Falling to his knees, a sound escaped his opened mouth as if one from a wounded animal. As if he was a bear caught in a bear trap. It was full of pain. His magic sparked and burned with power after absorbing 7 human souls. No monsters have ever absorbed this many in a lifetime None close as he had in the less in 5 minutes. Sans had the power equal to a mythological god. He couldn't feel the physical pain from his few injuries. All he could feel was the pain from his soul braking as a soft warm red light held the fragments together, then a Gold light filled his eyes.

*RELOAD TO LAST SAVE FILE

((Happy ending))

Sans felt frisk shift sharply next to him, panting and clinging to him as if she had run from a nightmare...

Nightmare... THAT'S IT, thou Sans didn't like it, he knew how to get them out of this.

"Sweetheart, I need you to reach into my jacket, grab my phone and call the contact that says ‘W.D’. Can you do that for me?"

"But isn't that the contact you told me to never EVER call, Something about certain death?!" Frisk looked uncertain, hand still holding his jacket tight.

Frisk was brave and a stubborn ass sometimes but she wasn't stupid when it came to stuff Sans told her to never do. After all, she's seen how fucked up the underground could be the surface didn't change much. She new Sans always had a good reason.

"The one and the same, trust me, call it then chuck it at them and hold tight to me. The old man hates humans but he's not stupid, your safe as long as you have me" Sans gave a grunt as another wave of pellets hit. Not giving Frisk any room to ask questions, Sans eye glowed as he sent back a round of bones of his own. The fuckers were getting closer. Frisk didn't even flinch and began digging for his phone, sometimes sans forgot what a badass she was. Finally, she dug it out and when to the contact, called the number put it on speaker and then chucked the thing over the shield like it was a fucking grenade and then Clung to Sans like it was the last thing she did, hell if things didn't work out, it would be. Humans hated her more than they did monsters after all.

The men must have thought the phone was a grenade because the shooting got faster and more panicked, unlike there calculated earlier shots, this was full on open-fire... and then it all sound stopped and frisk and could hear the, louder than should be, ringing noise. it echoed all around them and the monster hunters...

Riiinnnggg...

Rinnnggg...

Ringggg-

The line picked up and a voice that turned the air itself cold.

"I t ' s  a b o u t  t i m e  S a n s~"

Then a static filled the air, so loud Sans wrapped his arms around Frisk so she could clamp her hands over her pore ears. But Sans was used to this sound all too well, it isn't the first time he's heard the sound that hunted his childhood memories. Only this time it was filled with the screams of the dying humans. Sans kept his eyes locked on the ground as he held frisk close to his chest, so close he could swear she could feel the calm beating of his soul.

But sooner then Sans wished a dark figure walked into sans line of vision, the black shoes looked as stupidly polished as ever.

"I  K N E W  O N E  D A Y  Y O U  C O U L D N T  R E S I S T  M Y   I N V A T A S I O N" the deep voice crackled almost as if she was listening to a voice from over a bad cell connection " A N D  I  S E- E  Y O U  F I N A L L Y  F O U N D  Y O U R  S E L F  A   F R I E N D"  the figure leaned down hand outstretched as if to touch frisk but Sans snapped at him JUST missing the figure’s fingers as it jerked its hand out of reach. The figure steped away from them, towards the phone, "CHILDISH AS ALWAYS WITH YOUR NEW TOYS, YOU NEVER DID SHARE. ALL WELL I GOT THE 6 OTHER SOULS, O N E  M O R E  T O  G O. I GUESS YOU CAN HAVE THIS ONE, BUT REMEMBER SANS WHEN YOUR READY" The voice was beginning to fade away as the figure walked back to sans's phone with the *click click click* of his heels "I'M ALWAYS JUST A PHONE CALL AWay~" and with that the voice stopped and figure seeped back into the very much intact black phone and disappeared.

Frisk had taken her hands from her ears as the static disappeared with the voice but she was shaking, eyes clenched shut. Her face hid into Sans Jacket, where sans held her close. It took a long time for Sans to finally relax enough to stand, still holding frisk close.

"Asshole" Sans said under his breath as he made his way to newly appeared shortcut, to where Toriel, Papyrus and the others were waiting. Sans wasn’t sure how he knew it was there now but for some reason..it made his back hurt.

[fire-emblem-strategy]

I'm going to tackle the postgame dungeon soon but I don't know who to bring. I def want to bring Alm, Celica, Clair, and Mathilda. I want to bring Mage!Kliff, Archer!Tobin, and Merc!Grey together for their supports. Although Leon and Kamui are just as good as Tobin and Grey. For healers, I have Faye and Tatiana for rescue/warp cheesing, although I can't really bring both because I also want to use Lukas (the wall), Delthea (the magic nuke), and/or Sonya (a more well rounded nuke). Suggestions?

I had a magic-heavy team, but I had two bruiser-tanks in Saber and Kamui, and then the rest of my team was based around outranging and pokes.  Mage Ring, Speed Ring, a lot of casters, and a bow unit.  I justified using high-cost spells for maximum damage by keeping Tatiana on constant Fortify duty.  Fortify >>> Physic in every way in the Labyrinth -- you may have battles with multiple enemy parties and have to spread out, and healing just one unit or holding just one line isn’t going to be able to cut it.  Bring Tatiana over Faye if you only take one healer.  Anew will only cut it if you’re doing mega damage, like >80 Atk on your peak hits.

Anybody you’re considering for dedicated tank duty needs to be beefy.  I’m talking max HP, 35+ Def.  Preferably 40 Def.  I didn’t have anybody like that until I had my DFs cycle back through the whole class set again, but it was worth to be able to take more than two hits from floor 9 Entombed (Atk ~45).  If you have no other means of reaching it, a Dracoshield will work, but I’d argue you want to avoid using that until absolutely necessary due to the heavy Spd penalty.  That’s your plan C when it comes to tanks.

I also found skills to be immensely helpful.  Flamberge from Ladyblade is a brave magic attack, and Ladyblade when forged and in the right hands is +20 Atk already, so that’s devastating.  Sonya sounds like she can be your Ladyblade user if she isn’t already.  Zweihander’s Tigerstance was useful for OHKOing dragons of all kinds, so that became a bit of a go-to skill for me, even over Scendscale.

Outranging is definitely better than tanking outright.  Since dragons ignore Def with their breath attacks, they can take out any capped-HP, fully healed unit in two hits, and you’ll fight enough battles with multiple dragons that it will come into play.  Mage Ring + Ragnarok from Delthea works wonders.  It also allows you to counterattack the odd magic opponent, even when they use spells like Death and Mire.  Longbow is great and has Encloser to halt approaching threats, Parthia when maxed gives the Stupidly Huge Range skill that allows you to snipe from all over the map and outrange the Labyrinth boss, which is an incredible asset considering the damage that does to you.

As far as concrete suggestions, I think you need at least two units you can reliably put in the face of danger and come out safely, even if battered.  It’s my personal preference that these units also deal a lot of damage, just to make cleanup a lot easier.  If Lukas is capable of doing both, bring him.  If Grey is capable of doing both, bring him.  If not, you’re going to want to either grind them through their classes again for more stats or pick somebody else.  Alm cannot be one of these units without overclassing or dumping every sacred spring throughout the game onto him, because even the 26 Spd 28 Def Alm I had wasn’t even close to cutting it, and besides, you don’t want a promising run ended because even though you had 9 Turnwheel uses left, Alm died and screwed everything up.  Somebody needs to be high movement just in case something goes wrong, so that sounds like Clair and Mathilda for you -- I dunno which weapons they’ve got, but Gradivus and Rhomphaia are both great, Rhomphaia for its skills and Gradivus for its raw damage.

Most important of all, though, is don’t be afraid to back out.  You have to make it through ten floors in a marathon, no saves, no Turnwheel refreshing, nothing.  If a run looks like it isn’t going to make it, don’t push it.  Take the treasure you’ve acquired and evac.  You’ll be able to forge up weapons and go in with all that shiny upgraded gear the next time.

-Silas

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Match-winner Batshuayi a perfect 10 off Dortmund bench; Pulisic an 8

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/match-winner-batshuayi-a-perfect-10-off-dortmund-bench-pulisic-an-8/

Match-winner Batshuayi a perfect 10 off Dortmund bench; Pulisic an 8

Michy Batshuayi celebrates after scoring a Dortmund’s winning goal against Frankfurt. Getty Images

DORTMUND, Germany — The Westfalenstadion saw a dramatic finale on Sunday night between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt with each team scoring stoppage-time goals, but the hosts finding the most important one in a 3-2 win.

Dortmund thought they had thrown a narrow lead away as Danny Blum’s equaliser made it 2-2 in the first minute of stoppage time. Substitute Michy Batshuayi, however, had the last word, drilling the ball past Lukas Hradecky in a world-class move two minutes later to send the Yellow Wall into ecstasy.

The victory was a big one over a direct competitor for the Champions League spots. Dortmund remain in third-place — one point behind second-placed Schalke and one ahead of fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Positives

Peter Stoger reshuffled the starting lineup, as Christian Pulisic, Lukasz Piszczek, Manuel Akanji and Maximilian Philipp came in for Batshuayi, Mario Gotze, Julian Weigl and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. The fresh legs did the hosts a world of good not only because Dortmund looked less lethargic than in Thursday’s defeat to Salzburg but also showed new elements in their game. Niko Kovac’s side went up against a different team than the one they had watched on tape throughout the week. Especially Pulisic looked far improved as he forced Frankfurt defender Marco Russ to put the ball into his own net in the first half and linked up with Batshuayi to grab an assist in the second period.

Negatives

As has often been the case this season, Dortmund’s form abated with the kick off of the second period. The introduction of Weigl for Mahmoud Dahoud, who was close to a second booking did not help. Kevin-Prince Boateng’s impact quadrupled for the Eagles as Weigl could not show the same solidity in midfield. As the visitor’s made less unforced errors near their own goal, Dortmund started to struggle to build attacks and keep their opponents away from Roman Burki’s net. Frankfurt’s equaliser in the 75th minute came to the surprise of exactly no one. BVB, however, responded well by going ahead just two minutes later.

Manager rating out of 10

5 — Kovac realised in the second half that an additional midfielder would cause Dortmund even more problems, as he brought on Jonathan de Guzman for forward Ante Rebic at half-time and later Lukas Juvic for striker Sebastian Haller. Stoger did not find a fitting response and thus allowed the visitors to get a deserved equaliser twice.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Roman Burki, 6 �� Had to make his first real save shortly after the break as he quickly dove to parry a Boateng backheel at the near post. Overall, an assured performance.

DF Lukasz Piszczek, 5 — Was caught snoozing as Blum whizzed past him to score the equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time.

DF Manuel Akanji, 6 — Got himself booked for a terribly timed challenge in the first half, but kept a cool head throughout the rest of the game.

DF Omer Toprak, 6 — A much-needed improvement over Thursday’s performance in which the centre-back gave away a penalty. Looked more assured with Akanji by his side again.

DF Marcel Schmelzer, 5 — Most of Frankfurt’s attacks came through his side.

DF Gonzalo Castro, 6 — In the first half, Castro linked up well with Dahoud but struggled in the second half as Kovac won the tactical battle in midfield.

Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic dribbles the ball between Eintracht Frankfurt defenders. Getty Images

MF Mahmoud Dahoud, 6 — Was easily one of the best players in the first half. He anticipated well and found productive solutions after gaining possession. His through ball to Pulisic set up the opener. However, the 22-year-old is also a hot head and Stoger was forced to take him off.

MF Maximilian Philipp, 6 — Started out almost in central midfield but moved up front as the game went on. Philipp’s intensity and ability to win the ball helped BVB to keep Frankfurt far away from their own goal.

MF Marco Reus, 7 — If it weren’t for Russ, he would have scored the opener again. Whenever Dortmund were lethal on the transition, Reus wasn’t far. The importance of his contract extension until 2023 was visible in almost every moment.

MF Christian Pulisic, 8 — After starting four consecutive games on the bench, he looked and played like a man refreshed. The U.S. international forced an own goal and set up Batshuayi for the 2-2 equaliser while running rings around his countryman Timothy Chandler.

FW Andre Schurrle, 5 — Had all the right ideas but all the wrong execution. A combination of fortune and power of will saw Schurrle make a vital run down the left flank at the death of the game, instigating the play that led to the winner.

Substitutes

MF Julian Weigl, 3 — Replaced Dahoud at half-time. Weigl against Boateng was an utter mismatch in midfield and Dortmund lost control in the second half because of that. The 22-year-old was also the second winner against Jovic, who headed home a free kick in the 75th minute. All in all, another poor performance by Weigl.

FW Michy Batshuayi 10 — Felt the strain of recent weeks and only started off the bench. In the last half hour of the game, the Chelsea loanee became the match-winner, scoring twice with high technical skill. Especially his second goal, where his first touch set up his side volley on the turn was a beauty to behold and the essence of clutch.

DF Sokratis Papastathopoulos, NR — Came on for the final five minutes as Stoger switched to a back-five in order to sit on the narrow 2-1 lead. As the turn of events showed, it did not add much defensive solidity, but rather gave the away team a chance to build pressure.

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

The Death Ring is essentially a Warriors-Hell version of a Colosseum.

So let's use that.

Colosseums generally had four types of fighters. Let's connect that to the Death Ring.

There's:

--volunteer (wishes to harm)

--volunteer (wishes to kill)

--prisoner (temporary, may die but it is not the goal to kill them)

--prisoner (until their second death, the goal is to kill them -- rare)

Names:

Caladium -> volunteer that wishes to harm. Caladium symbolizes great joy and delight, as the volunteer often takes joy and delight in inflicting pain, or allow the audience to experience it while they watch the Caladium in action.

Hellebore -> volunteer that wishes to kill. This name is chosen because this plant is poisonous to many species, therefore causing death.

Anemone -> prisoner held temporarily. These plants are blown open by the wind, which blows away the dead petals. It is thought, at least by some, that the beatings of the prisoners serve, as a way, to cure them of their cruelty--either by forcing them to see their ways, feel the pain that they had inflicted on others, or force them to change their ways. In a sense, being a prisoner 'blows away' the flaws in them.

Cyclamen -> prisoner held until they die. The plant means 'goodbye.'

When speaking of individual cats, the plants are added after their names. Examples:

Dullahan-Hellebore, Webstripe-Anemone

Prisoners of the second category were, unlike the rest, not called by their name with the plant name added behind. They were ONLY called 'Cyclamen," erasing their name entirely.

EDIT: FORGOT TO MENTION

The two names for prisoners were also chosen because these plants were used to identify them. In areas they were kept, they were either placed with cyclamen or anemone, and sometimes had them woven into their pelts. This prevented cats who were meant to die from mistakenly being let go, and from bad-but-not-that-bad cats from being killed.

(The second name only sticks when in or around the Death Ring and participating in its activities).

I might choose another name for referees as well, but this already took my so long, so that's for another time!

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