#they must be in the irrigation ditches?

[aurevell]

The Only Thing Left Sterek | 13k | T

“You don’t need air,” Stiles echoes. “You swim. That doesn’t tell me much. What are you?” Derek stares. He slowly lifts his shoulders and drops them back into the water. Or, Stiles meets a stranger at the spring outside of town.

Read on AO3 (or check out the beginning below)

The town grows less forgiving near its borders. Meaner, Stiles thinks, and uglier too. Once you’re too far from the main streets, the paved asphalt road fractures into rough gravel shot through with weeds. 

To one side of it, the ground slopes into a trash-choked ditch. Supposedly, it used to irrigate crops back before he was born, but that farmland is all overgrown now, the grass and wild shrubs almost hip-height, peppered here and there with the kind of refuse that takes real effort to move. Stiles sometimes likes to imagine how it all must have gotten there: shame-faced strangers lugging their mattress through the mud. Sneaking like thieves in the night to set down the old tires that now shelter stray cats.

And then, wedged right in the middle of the grime and gravel and mud, there’s a patch of dark woods that looks totally untouched. Like no one ever thought to use it or trash it, like everyone quietly agreed to leave it alone.

From the road, the tops of the towering pines whisper in the wind. A glint of silver through their crooked trunks turns out to be a wide spring of green water once you get close enough to see, mirror-smooth and shining. The woods are probably just a few acres in all, large enough to walk the perimeter of the spring in a quarter-hour at a leisurely clip, but not large enough to get lost in them. There are small signs of civilization, sure: some sort of barred drain as you leave the road, the weathered yellow sign warning of drowning risks, the hint of an old wooden structure through the far-off leaves. Otherwise, Stiles can almost pretend he’s in a pristine forest somewhere, the trees ancient and foreign and wild.

He likes to do that, sometimes. Pretend to be somewhere else, pretend this is one tiny touch of magic left in his world, its last remaining thumbprint. It’s nicer than the alternative.

When his mom was alive, she used to believe in that sort of thing. Old magic, she called it. She said that it lingered in some places. That humans had pushed it away little by little, maybe, and there was no room for it anymore except in little pockets you might stumble across by mistake. (When his dad was alive, he used to laugh and say that if magic were real, it was already spent up in things like batteries and planes and computers, because who knew how any of that worked?)

If there’s a magic to these trees or still waters, it must have something to do with how calm Stiles feels when he sits under the trees that stretch their branches over the spring, a calm he rarely otherwise feels. The edge of the water is a deep green ring, teeming here and there with rushes and duckweed. Water lilies too, red as a flare. In the middle of the spring, the water darkens almost to black as the ground slopes steeply out of sight. 

On the surface, the spring is always cool and placid. But that’s deceptive, Stiles knows. Still waters run deep. 

“Hello,” someone says, quiet, and Stiles startles and whips around. 

He’s perched on the bank of the spring, his back against a tree, and he should’ve heard someone stepping through the woods around him. The area is so rarely traveled that he wasn’t anticipating anyone else. But the voice, unexpectedly near, hasn’t come from the trees at all. 

It’s come from the water. Just a few yards away is a man swimming in the spring, only his head and shoulders visible in the green. He must have entered the water somewhere else, swimming in this direction while Stiles was glowering off in the distance. The banks of the spring curve out of sight to one side, dipping into the trees and then back around further off.

“God, you scared me,” Stiles says vehemently. A relieved laugh bubbles up from him after the shock. “Where did you even come from, dude? Isn’t it kind of cold out to be swimming?”

The swimmer barely moves as he treads. “The water.” The words are again quiet, but the still water carries the sound. His voice rasps, as if he hasn’t spoken all day. 

He’s a little older than Stiles, with dark hair plastered to his forehead. He’s markedly handsome, with serious features: his full lips are unsmiling, his strong jaw clenched. The dark water is barely clear enough where he treads to make out a pair of muscled arms sweeping back and forth with slow glace. Even from this far away, his light eyes seem to dance green along with the ripples. 

“You come here often,” the man adds. 

It doesn’t sound like a question, but Stiles answers it like it is. “Yeah, I guess I do. Nice out here.”

“You’re alone.”

Stiles hesitates for a moment, though the answer must be obvious. It’s a weird thing for a stranger to ask someone they just met in the middle of nowhere, especially a stranger who stares as baldly as this one does, but it’s not like the guy has moved to approach. He’s not threatening. He just waits through the pause, letting Stiles respond in his own time.

“Yeah,” Stiles says at last. “You?”

The man’s mouth twists, dissatisfied. “Always.”

This whole thing feels weird, Stiles thinks, this mystery guy. He tries to steer them toward even ground, neutral conversation. “So, uh, you’re not from around here, are you? Did you just come to check out the spring or something?”

“I live here.”

Stiles blinks in surprise. “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in town before.” No, he knows he hasn’t. He’d remember a guy who looks like this. He frowns, adding, “And, what, you know about this place and you come out here to swim anyway? The water’s gotta be freezing.”

“I like the water.”

Which, sure, that isn’t so unusual on paper. Deepwater Well turns into a popular hangout in the summer, and it’s a lure year-round for the local high schoolers who occasionally come to party on the shores. But it doesn’t change the fact that there aren’t that many swimmers, because those brave enough to enter the spring’s waters sometimes end up drowned. Sometimes worse. 

A handful of people have even disappeared from the area over the past few decades, making headlines statewide after searchers found nothing in the woods or water. Something to do with the way the spring connects to underground aquifers, the rumors say, or maybe some sort of current that drags you further down. It’s a karstic spring, full of deep shafts and narrow caverns that have never been fully mapped, and there’s no telling where you’d end up if you sank all the way to the bottom.

That’s probably why the nut jobs come out of the woodwork to talk about it online sometimes, joking about rare cryptids. And why there are conspiracy theories galore from every flavor of armchair detective imaginable. Stiles included. He has a morbid affinity for that sort of research, a shameless interest in the details of disappearances and cold cases, and this place always used to mystify him because it’s right in his backyard. But the internet holds few answers, even for him.

If this guy lives around here, he must know all of that, and yet he’s decided to swim anyway. Dumb decision, but who’s Stiles to judge. Maybe he’s one of those weird thrill-seeking, adventure-type people.

“Sure. It figures. Because of, you know.” Stiles makes a vague gesture at the guy, though he’s thinking in particular of those toned arms. “You, uh, just look like it.”

“Do you swim?”

“Yeah, in the summer. And in a pool. It’s kind of cold for it now.”

“It’s not cold once you’re in the water.”

“Sounds like what some crazy swimming enthusiast would say,” Stiles jokes. Even the thought of getting in the water makes him pull his hoodie a little tighter around himself. It’s not particularly cold today, but the breeze always makes the crisp fall air sting his skin. “That’s a sure-fire recipe for hypothermia. I’m too fragile for that. All skin and bones.”

It’s hard to be sure, but Stiles thinks the man’s lips twitch at that.

“What’s your name?” Stiles demands.

This time, it’s the man who pauses. It’s long enough that Stiles’s eyebrows begin to rise. “Derek.”

Stiles huffs out an incredulous laugh. “Why’d you have to think so hard about it?”

“Long time since I used it. The name.”

“You don’t get out much?”

Derek grunts. “No. What is your name?”

“Oh, yeah. Stiles.”

“Stiles,” Derek says slowly, stretching it out like he’s testing out the word.

“Are you at the community college?” Stiles wonders, still trying to feel Derek out. Gauge his age. “Or do you work?”

“Used to,” Derek says gruffly.

Stiles waits but, he doesn’t offer anything more. Which is fair, Stiles figures, because maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it with a stranger. And Stiles doesn’t like people prying into why he’s not in school. But still. “Really playing the man of mystery angle, are we?”

“Where do you come from?”

“Town.” When Derek just stares at him blankly, Stiles jerks his thumb back toward the road. 

“What is it like there?”

“In…Beacon Hills?” Stiles asks, incredulous. “You’re not really from around here, are you?”

Derek just grunts again. “I have not seen it.”

This guy, Stiles thinks. What the fuck? 

Read the rest on AO3

[johaerys-writes]

Ch. 17: Cherry

Read on AO3 | Read from the beginning

It’s been a wet kind of summer. The rains started early after spring and persisted until the tail end of June, unusual for this time of year. The air is thick and humid, as if moving through water, and the sky hangs dull and heavy above the valley.

For the most part, Patroclus has been working in the vineyards of the area, along with the throngs of other seasonal workers that arrive in Phthia for every harvesting period. It’s hard work, but Patroclus has never minded physical labour overly much. More than anything, he’s glad that the exams are done and over with; if his mind had to retain yet one more piece of information, it might explode.

Bees buzz merrily around him as he clips the grapes from the vines and tosses them in his basket. His back is aching and the sweat stings his eyes; there’s only a few more minutes until the end of the work day. Patroclus is looking forward to a cold drink of water and an even colder shower. He woke up at six this morning to ride his bike all the way here; the vineyard is quite far out, past Atreus' farm and across the Spercheios river, miles upon miles of wheat and alfalfa fields with their deep irrigation ditches. Grape harvesting pays slightly better than other jobs, but you can't work too fast or the fruits will be bruised. Employers don't like that. 

Some days, like this one, when the sun burns bright above them and there isn’t the reprieve of rain clouds hovering above, Patroclus wonders if he’s making things way too hard for himself. Peleus all but assured them that he would pay for any and all expenses he and Achilles would have during their move to the capital, and more besides, but Patroclus feels better knowing that he won’t be relying entirely on Peleus’ charity. His savings will be just about enough to cover his personal expenses for the first couple of months, until he finds another job there. Patroclus considers that a win; he thinks it will be good for him to be a little bit more independent. 

He returns with his basket filled to the brim and a procession of bees in tow, then lines up along with the others to receive his pay for the day. Most of the workers are undocumented immigrants; the job pays five bucks per hour and there are no papers to sign, no tax deductions. They're all paid under the table, in cash. 

Patroclus accepts the bills with fingers darkened by dirt and sticky with sap, and slips them in his pocket. 

He gets on his bike and pedals fast down the dirt road. A quick stop by the house for a shower, a change of clothes and a snack, and he’s off again. The others must already be at the basketball court, probably already a couple games in. Achilles must surely be among them, obliterating the opposing team’s defences. 

He had found Patroclus’ decision to work for most of the summer odd. He didn’t tell him as much, never tried to dissuade him, but Patroclus could tell from his baffled frown and the words he held back that the notion of working the summer before college never once crossed his mind. Not out of laziness, but out of a lack of need. What use was there to waste his time working in someone else’s fields, when his father owned so many of his own?

“It’d be a conflict of interest,” he’d told Patroclus with an easy smile. “Bad for business, you understand.” 

Patroclus had laughed and they’d said nothing more about it, but the tinge of disappointment in Achilles’ eyes every time Patroclus has to miss one of the boys’ outings or basketball games is impossible not to notice. Perhaps it grates a little at Achilles, the same it does at him, that they aren’t spending all of their time together like they used to, like they have done every other summer since Patroclus came to Phthia. That they aren’t racing with their bikes down the empty dirt roads, leaving clouds of dust in their wake, or reading dusty books from Peleus’ library underneath the shade of the willow tree at the shed. That they don't... exist together as naturally and effortlessly as they once did.

But things aren’t quite the same between them now as they were back then. Since their row in the garage, Achilles has been a little quiet and aloof around him, not quite as eager to monopolise his time and company. And in the span of two months, Patroclus has been to the shed with Achilles all of five times and to the beach only once. During those times, he was careful not to linger too long, not to let the conversation drift towards… dangerous places. Not to sit too near, lean too close, touch. No funny business. 

It’s all for the best, Patroclus knows. The right and sensible thing to do. The line they’ve been walking with all of this has been far too thin; it was only a matter of time before it all blew up in their faces, surely, before someone found out or before their friendship started unraveling because of it. But he still can’t shake the feeling that he’s missing something essential, that he’s fucked up somehow. He doesn’t know how to fix it.

The echo of the ball’s dribble and the scattered conversations reach him before Patroclus turns the corner to the basketball court. It’s rather busy now that the sun has fallen a bit, and the bleachers are half full, younger kids from school or from the next village over. He spots Briseis and the other girls up on the third row, giggling amongst themselves as they watch the game. 

Briseis waves happily at him. “Took you longer than usual,” she tells him as he comes to sit next to her. “Does the future of Phthia’s winemaking rest solely on your very capable shoulders?” 

Read the rest on AO3!

[lordsothofsithicus]

Touch of Death Review

Hey all, I found a review I wrote of the 2nd edition Ravenloft adventure, Touch of Death. Warning, it's pretty long

First, the cover.  A Boris Karloff-looking mummy looms in front of a backdrop of cracked and aged hieroglyphics, superimposed in front is a swooning woman scantily-clad in a style evocative of the Rom, except she’s blond and blue-eyed.

This cover grabs the eye, but is really old-fashioned.  It also doesn’t really evoke the plot.  Not that I think that’s necessary.  A cover-artist’s job is to get your attention.  In this case, I think it succeeded… but also that this cover has really gone out of style.  Still, it’s a reminder that the story is the story, but it’s the cover that puts the butts in the proverbial seats.

The story begins with your PCs helping a group of Vistani (Rom-analogues, who have recently returned to D&D with much revision because the old depictions of them were spectacularly racist) whose wagon threw a wheel.  The group’s young matriarch, a Vistani girl named Dulcimae, asks the players for their help.  This is unusual for the older Ravenloft stuff in that the Vistani, while suspicious of the party, aren’t malevolent or sinister - they just need help sorting out their wagon.  The opening of the adventure is contingent on the PCs helping the Vistani and doesn’t offer alternative paths, but then again D&D isn’t the game of not helping people who are in a tight spot.  In exchange for the players’ help, Dulcimae offers to lead them out of the Domains of Dread.

Needless to say this adventure isn’t about leaving the Domains of Dread with a group of Vistani after you help them fix their wagon.  Though I think that there’d be a sort of poetry to that especially if players had been there for awhile.  There’d probably be some indignant sputtering.  Someone would say “That’s it?  That’s all we had to do?” 

After that your friends wouldn’t talk to you anymore, but you’d have won a moral victory.

The Mists of Ravenloft have other plans, and they divert your fly Vistani ride into the sandy hellhole of Har’Akir.  No, really, 2nd Edition Har’Akir sucked.  You’d be happier in one of the domains full of vampires.  You pass into Har’Akir bounded on one side by a sheer cliff with a searing wall of heat to your back and a crappy little mud-brick village up ahead.  The description of Har’Akir given by the module reads:  “The domain is a very simple place. There are two roads, a village with a spring, a canyon ridden cliff, and a lot of sun and sand.”

It specifically says that if you yell at Dulcimae about this, she’ll cry.

It goes on to describe how miserable life in Har’Akir is, and how there’s almost no food to be had and that the people of Mudar don’t die because the waters of the oasis sustain them.  Life must be awful if you have Water Plus and everything still sucks.  Presumably if they try to dig an irrigation ditch and grow a garden the Darklord loses his cookies and smashes it.

Also is the name of the village Mudar or Muhar?  Even the adventure can’t keep track - in the text it’s Mudar, on the map it’s Muhar.  

There’s more here, mostly to drive home the point of how hard-up the people of Mudar/Muhar are and how at the mercy they are of… well, everything.  The desert, monsters, you name it.  They even provide you with an NPC, an orphan boy named Abu who’s so desperate to leave the desert hellhole that he attaches himself to the party as a hireling… are they still a hireling if you don’t need to pay for them?  They also provide another hireling, one capable of reading the Akirran hieroglyphics, but honestly his prices are pretty ridiculous.  5 GP a day and a 100 GP rider to enter the final dungeon.  If your PCs are a bunch of min-maxing fools then they best pay up because the Wizard never bothered to pick up Comprehend Languages and Har’Akirrans use a Hieroglyphic alphabet.  “You can’t use that in a fight!  It’s stupid!”  Haha, guess you’re paying 5 gold a day so you’re not stuck in Hell’s Sandbox forever, shoulda thought of that, Fireballs McLightningbolt!  Better not let this guy die!

Actually, progressing through Touch of Death doesn’t require you to bring either hireling along.  The most they do is translate flavor text for the party.  Which is another thing wrong with this module.

After this misery breakdown, the module introduces the plot, which starts with people going missing from Mudar/Muhar every few nights, with the villagers occasionally finding a withered corpse.  It talks about the domain’s darklord and how the people view him (...not well, considering their circumstances).  The only light in this forsaken place is Muhar/Mudar’s temple and its benevolent high priestess.

A slight digression here, the plot of Touch of Death kicks off with an introduction that in part says “This module is partially event driven which means that certain events take place regardless of where the PCs are or what they are doing.”  This is a big red flag, because it means that the plot of the adventure is on rails, and isn’t reactive to what the player characters are doing.  This means that they’re not integrated into the arc of the story, which can lead to disenfranchisement if the DM doesn’t fix it.  A DM should have to make adjustments, but they shouldn’t have to fix anything in an adventure to make it work.

These fixed plot points occur night-by-night.  Each one is assumed to happen as written, and isn’t reactive to the actions of the players in any meaningful way.  As indicated, their presence isn’t even required for half of them.  Great.

After this, there are spoilers.  I’ve tried to keep them to a minimum, but you’ve been warned.

Day/Night 1:  The cool part of Night 1 is the introduction of the Desert Zombie, a Fast Zombie variant on the ol’ shambler with the ability to erupt out of the sand and ambush the unwary.  They also have the ability to rapidly burrow through sand as if swimming, but that’s stupid when they can just lie in wait.  It’s not like they have anywhere else to be.

On the first night, the party is supposed to get their first look at the Big Bad and fight a pitched battle with a small horde of Desert Zombies, who kill and drag off as many of the Vistani as they can catch (but explicitly not Dulcimae, who hides).  

Day/Night 2: This starts off with Dulcimae doing a Tarokka (that’s a fictional Tarot analogue used by the Vistani) reading for the party.  It’s kind of cool that this is meant to be interactive, though the adventure is written as if you’ll just use a deck of Bicycle cards instead of the deck that came with the Red Box… yes, I remember.  The downside of this is that there’s almost no flexibility to the reading, you just keep pulling cards until the ones indicated come up, all others are “false readings.”

Honestly you’re better off just narrating the fortune-telling, in my opinion.

The next night, the Big Bad comes back with more zombies, including any of the Vistani they managed to drag off on night one.  This is once again a fight on rails, since no matter what the PCs do the zombies drag off Dulcimae and kill the rest of the Vistani.

This is by far the most frustrating part of this adventure, and also the part where it most shows its age.  But I’ll elaborate on that in a little bit.

Day/Night Three: On day three, the Big Bad frames the PCs as being involved in the murders… even though they started before the party got to Mudar/Muhar and… this is just super frustrating.  What is the point of Day Three?  The party gets shut out by the village, which is annoying but to… what effect?  There’s nothing they need there, Mudar/Muhar is a toilet that doesn’t even have a place to resupply.  If you need water you have a whole oasis you can draw it from while glaring daggers at the Mudar/Muharites.  If the PCs weren’t present for what happened to the Vistani on Night 2 they don’t get framed, they don’t get shut out by the villagers… and this has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the plot.

On night three, a Force Ghost of Dulcimae shows up, frantically pointing the PCs at the temple.  Instead of slowly dropping hints to the party that all is not as it seems, sinister revelations and creeping fear, the party gets a ghost, frantically waving and pointing.  K.

Inside, the benevolent high priestess is caught red-handed.  Literally red-handed, since she just finished making a human sacrifice out of Dulcimae.  There’s a fight (naturally) which can end a couple of different ways (and the way the priestess tries to outfox the PCs is actually quite clever and very Egyptian), but however it ends Day/Night 4 is pretty well fixed.

Day/Night Four: The villagers are angry that the PCs killed the Benevolent Priestess (even if they didn’t pull it off) and try to lynch the party.  The text says they won’t disperse until the PCs kill at least three of them, and that the lynch mob will come after the party every day until the adventure concludes.  This is incredibly frustrating, as it leaves no room for player cleverness or persuasiveness, and is basically just railroading the players into a Dark Powers Check because they did Something Bad.  Bad PCs, bad!  Don’t *bap* kill *bap* peasants! *bap*  Even if the adventure makes you!  *bap*

On Night Four, the Big Bad decides the PCs have to go, and sends Mummy Dulcimae after them at the head of a troop of Teriyaki-flavored Desert Zombies.  Once again, the outcome of this encounter is largely on rails.  There are some minor variables but the overall outcome is fixed.

Day/Night Five: There isn’t even an entry for Day Five, so just assume the PCs have to beat down the angry mob I guess.

On Night Five, the Big Bad comes to mess with the PCs himself, along with Mumcimae and every other NPC that got Railroaded to death in the course of the adventure.  There isn’t really a point to this, and the encounter basically stipulates that the Big Bad beats the crap out of the party (knowing his 2E stats, it’s highly likely at the suggested PC level) until another NPC who has no further bearing on the adventure shows up, and the Big Bad runs off rather than confront them.  PCs aren’t given the slightest clue who this NPC is or why the antagonist would retreat rather than fight them.

Day/Night Six: The PCs murder a horde of 30-40 Mudar/Muharites during their daily confrontation with the angry mob.  Like you do.  Everyone remembers that fun D&D battle they had with a horde of 40 angry level 0 townsfolk.  So fun, right?  ...Right?

On Night Six, it’s assumed that the players head out to the module-concluding dungeon, ifi they haven’t already.  Despite the previous encounters offering no clue that the PCs should go there outside of the card reading.

So overall my review of these encounters is… not good.  If you run these as written without disguising that they’re on rails really well I could easily see players getting frustrated and losing their investment in the adventure.  Instead of slowly reeling them in with clues that all is not well in the land of Sand and Misery and Zombie Jerky, the adventure just drops a ‘GO HERE’ on the party… but there’s no payoff, because they can’t save the NPC in whom they’re presumably emotionally invested (even though all Dulcimae does in the adventure is cry if people are mean to her, give a card reading, hide, swoon, and faint).  

What happens to Dulcimae is a legitimately bad example of Fridging, and if you want to run Touch of Death I’d strongly advise you to fix it - you should probably dramatically change the way she behaves, and give your players an opportunity to rescue her if they can figure out where she’s been taken in time.

There are other examples of fridging in this adventure, since other NPCs the party is supposed to get attached to like Abu the Orphan Boy are also supposed to be killed and thrown back at the PCs as monsters.  I understand that character death generates horror for the PCs and your players, but I posit that there are better ways to do it than the options Touch of Death lays out for you.

If you don’t know what Fridging is (you probably do but I try not to assume), it’s when a character, almost always a woman (but I also extend it to children and animals. I do believe it’s possible to Fridge a male character, it’s just done to women in fiction much more often), exists as a character only to die horribly so that their death can give pathos and drama to someone else’s story.

After Six Days and Nights in sunny Har’Akir, the module goes into the layout of the dungeons the PCs will visit during the module, the Temple of Mudar/Muhar and Pharoah’s Rest.  A lot of the things contained in these dungeons are interesting and add weight and mystery to the adventure, but the encounters as given don’t sync up with them as well as they should.  The PCs are pointed toward the Temple by a proverbial blinking sign and toward Pharoah’s Rest by dint of having no place else to go.

The way the adventure ultimately resolves… to be frank, the module doesn’t do a good job of playing up the drama of it, but it’s the best part of the adventure IF you pad it out and dress it up right.  If you played the old SSI computer game The Stone Prophet, they used a version of Touch of Death’s ending to wrap up the game, but made you sweat for it.

Final Review: Touch of Death is one of the adventures that’s part of Hyskosa’s Hexad, AKA the Grand Conjunction adventure series, which is one of D&D’s classic adventure lines… except Touch of Death is quite frankly not very good.  If there’s one thing that’s absolutely true about running an RPG, it’s that you keep the sitting around waiting for something to happen to a minimum and even if you have a path the story should broadly follow, you create options for variability of outcome or unorthodox solutions to encounters.

Those don’t exist in this adventure.  There’s no dawning dread and very little mystery.  The villains’ motivations aren’t well-defined even in the narrative (they have a plan, but the method for achieving their goal is… highly dubious) and the Darklord of Har’Akir, the looming presence of whom should overshadow the whole adventure even for the villains, building up to when the PCs finally meet them… is barely touched on.  Even an important point of order between the two principal villains is there in their DM-facing write ups but isn’t made relevant in the adventure itself.  PCs aren’t given a way to find out about it, let alone capitalize on it.

If I had to summarize this adventure in one word, that word would be frustrating.  This is a frustrating adventure module not because it’s difficult, but because it’s completely on rails and the scenery facing the players isn’t even that compelling.  There’s a story here though - and that story is The Stone Prophet, which is built out from this adventure and is canonically a sequel to it.  It assumes that the adventurers from Touch of Death lose.

1995’s The Stone Prophet computer game took the basic premise of Touch of Death, expanded it out and built it into a real campaign, one with vibrant NPCs (by early-mid 90s D&D computer game standards), a fun plot, a lot of mystery and satisfying resolutions.  And with no fridging in it.

Edit to add: While it’s not explicitly detailed in Stone Prophet’s story, if you play or read this adventure and then play that game, the circumstances of some of the characters allude to it being set after Touch of Death.  But that doesn’t change the fact that the computer game realized the potential of the best things about this adventure better than Touch of Death itself did.

If you’ve read the new description of Har’Akir in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, they spruced this domain up a lot.  They made Mudar/Muhar (now officially called Muhar) ten times larger (it literally went from a sun-baked collection of hovels clinging to the edge of an oasis to a city of 3,000 on the edge of a lake) and just by filling out the map of the domain created a bunch of story seeds and adventuring hooks where before there were… not a lot.

But having said that, Touch of Death is not a good candidate to be reclaimed as an adventure for 5E, above and beyond compensating for the 5E rewrites to the Har’Akir domain.

I keep comparing Touch of Death to The Stone Prophet for a reason, and that reason is that Stone Prophet is the adventure Touch of Death should have been.  If you’re interested in Har’Akir for your 5E adventures and want to explore an older version of the setting for ideas, you’re better off reading a plot synopsis of Stone Prophet or just getting your retro on and playing it, you can buy it as part of a bundle with Strahd’s Possession at gog.com for ten bucks.  See what D&D computer games were like during the pre-Baldur’s Gate forgotten age!

The guy who wrote this adventure, Bruce Nesmith, wrote a lot of other stuff for TSR when he was their Creative Director, and a lot of his work is better than Touch of Death in concept and execution, though there are some common flaws in execution throughout his adventures that are really at their worst in this module.  An adventure I’ll be reviewing soon, The Created, is arguably Nesmith at both his best and his worst at the exact same time.  

Nesmith later moved on to work for Bethesda and was the lead designer for Skyrim, and honestly adventures like Touch of Death aren’t all that different from grubbing around for shit somebody dropped in the back of a cave full of monsters.  Why’d they drop it there?  Does my going after it have any effect on the outcome of events?  Shrug. Final Thought:

I decided not to do star ratings or thumbs-up/thumbs-down because I don’t usually find those ratings helpful, unless a Mark Millar or Zack Snyder joint pops up on Netflix and then you better believe I’m hammering that thumbs-down as hard as I can.  In this case, my final thought is that when this adventure was published in 1991 it cost $6.95.  That’d be $13.99 in 2021 dollars (when I wrote this review), rounding up to the nearest common US price point.  I don’t think this is a fourteen-dollar adventure.

[revunant]

|| 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑 @deathwxtch.

This is his first time hiding a body. It shouldn’t be too hard, he thinks, but it’s worth being careful - never in his life has he lived so close to so many people. So he waits until everyone is either asleep or inebriated and drives out of London, further south, as deep into the New Forest as he can muster before he risks getting a wheel stuck in an irrigation ditch, but deep enough that his only witnesses are owls, and wild boar, and free-roaming ponies.

Digging the hole takes a couple of hours of hard toil, but filling it in is easier work. He checks his gloves for holes and stows the shovel in a badger sett. It’s on the way back, though, that something changes, though he doesn’t clock it when it happens. The trees are still the trees he knows, but they’re older, too old and too irregular to belong to the softwood plantation he’d buried the body in. But the forest is big, and serves many purposes and many industries. It’s also unfamiliar to him, and his hypervigilance will only get him so far in an unfamiliar environment. The portal closes behind him, unseen.

It’s only a few minutes later, when he feels the pervasive dread of being witnessed by a large and murderous animal, that the penny drops.

The next few blurry seconds go as follows: he hears a scraping behind him, though he can’t tell whether it’s claw or hoof pawing at the earth, and then an enormous pair of lungs huffing out an aggravated breath. He sees only a streak of near-black fur before his (slightly redundant) survival instinct kicks in and sends him scrambling for the nearest tree, hoping that whatever’s attacking him, it’s either unwilling or unable to climb. Climber or not, it still charges, and Jean isn’t nearly as high in the tree as he’d like to be when something — antlers, they must be antlers — collides with the trunk, sending a spray of bark chips flying.

He’s not sure why, but the impact wrenches all the air from his lungs in a silent scream, but the adrenaline flows far too thickly in his veins for him to feel his femur shatter.

More scraping. More huffing. Jean’s heart pounds in his ears as he scrambles onto a branch and hugs it, waiting for the thing to lose interest, cursing himself for not bringing a gun. A moose? Something worse? There are no moose in the New Forest. Even as he sees, his vision swimming, the creature’s inky shape give up and retreat, its footfalls growing steadily quieter, the dread doesn’t leave. Wherever he is now, it’s not the south of England.

But he’d be insane to get out of this tree before the sun rises. So he's not going to do that.

[hotniatheron]

smoking that direct from the farm irrigation ditch mary jane right before watching M*A*S*H air in real time must have made teenagers insane in 1973

[wyrddogs]

Kermit seems to be creating a catalogue in his head about the types of growth and terrain he’s flushed rabbits in. He checks the obvious places like tall grass, brush, irrigation ditches, etc. A few weeks ago he climbed out onto a platform over a culvert and flushed a rabbit out of some water reeds. The rabbit had actually been standing in the water.

Twice now I’ve caught him considering jumping into some reeds in a canal, deep water that a rabbit definitely would not be in. It’s really clever of him to recognize the same type of plants in a different area! Do not want him jumping into a canal!

Yesterday there were some bird hunters out so we had to avoid our usual rabbit mother lode and stick along the canals where we rarely find rabbits. The gunshots must have pushed the rabbits closer to the water than they usually go. Kermit was diving into really thick growth and shoving his way through really twiggy grass in an area he doesn’t normally enter. I watched him work the area for about fifteen minutes, then he put up a jackrabbit.

He was able to trail the line for quite a ways, then lost it when it crossed over the gravel path. That’s fine, it is quite dry now and scent does not stick to gravel easily.

When we went back to our path he spent the rest of the walk back to the car climbing the mud piles and rocks, and shoving his way through brush.

Every time we go out he gets better.

[haggishlyhagging]

Writing and surveying were essential to the existence of urban civilization, and Nisaba is thereby honored as the one who makes cities possible: “the place which you do not establish, there humankind is not established, cities are not built.” Other goddesses were also involved in such learned occupations. Amageshtinanna, who composed laments for her dead brother Dumuzi, was also called "mistress of scribes, and the goddess Nintu is also called the "great knower who knows everything." But it was primarily Nisaba who filled this role, honored by the scribes who ended their compositions with the short sentence, "Nisaba be praised!"

The scribes praising Nisaba were generally male. Why, then, did they imagine their profession to be under the tutelage of a female? And why did the singers and healers, many of whom were also men, pray to and praise their patron goddesses? The answer lies in the skilled nature of these activities and the contribution of women to their development. The cultural arts are learned occupations which require the accumulation of technological knowledge. They are wise activities and, as such, are attributed to wise women. Part of the reason that women were considered wise is psychological, for women were the chief caretakers of nursing children. This meant that the child developed in the presence of what seemed to her an all-knowing, all-powerful mother of early childhood, the "goddess of the nursery." There is another historical factor that should not be overlooked. Men were engaged in strenuous large-muscle occupations for which their superior upper-arm strength and generally heavier musculature was needed. In early Mesopotamia, they spent their time ploughing with oxen, digging ditches for irrigation, and building city walls for defense. Women, on the other hand, were tending children at home and producing basic goods by cooking, cloth making, and beer brewing. Such activities are technologically sophisticated and complicated and must have appeared particularly intricate in comparison to the activities in which most males were engaged. The skilled nature of women's activities must have reinforced from early childhood the psychological impression of the wise mother. These two factors contribute to an image of the female as accumulating, utilizing, and dispensing expert knowledge.

-Tikva Frymer-Kensky, In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth

[alex99achapterthree]

I hate when that happens.

This F-15D EAGLE went off the runway at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon and ended up in an irrigation canal just past the over-run.

Interesting that the pilot chose not to eject, the canopy is open but still on and the seat remains in the cockpit. The aircraft must not have been going fast when it left the runway, but I still bet the damage to the underbelly and gear is severe, and jet engines don't like sucking up canal water.

It seems like there is so often a ditch or a road or an embankment right at the end of the runway. It's just a matter of time...

[almaqead]

"The Meccans." From Surah 21, Anbya, "On Her Grapes."

So because of the Quran we now have a sturdy path to follow that leads to the Oasis, the Water of Freedom first named Moses in the Torah. The story of Safa (pure) and Marwa (diamond) is an Islamic tradition that commemorates the struggle of Hagar (Hijrah or Sojourn in Arabic) to find water for her son, Ishmael (Ismāʿīl), in the valley of Mecca (hardship) .The story is an integral part of the Hajj ( duty) and Umrah (the aqueduct) pilgrimages to Mecca. 

Another idiom we can create for the pilgrimage path through Islam is the Marwah Safah "the Diamond Day Spa", with implications of ways the minds of young people must be moistened by the knowledge hidden in the Quran.

Young Muslim men have lower chances than most of attaining to happiness and prosperity. The sadness and tragedy that befalls these persons cannot be ignored by mankind any longer. Muslim men have very low likelihood of "being able to challenge problematising accounts" of their masculinity, sexuality, and potential as full citizens.

The 12 Emirates I created suggest the generations are tributaries like veins and arteries that feed the aqueduct cited above. They provide society with an irrigation ditch, educated persons with great integrity that God intends to leave their fingerprint on the world.

He does not want men and boys to be hurled into the oncoming path of foreign weapons or police actions, or forced to run right straight into barbed wire fences and housing projects elsewhere. There is indeed a long struggle ahead for Muslim men and their families but it must be an academic one. These comprise the real pilgrimages forged by the Prophet.

I performed the exercise to prove prophecy is real, including the moments God spake with Muhammad through the Angels for the sake of the welfare of man, especially young Muslim men in whom God has not lost faith.

Let us continue to study the Surah to find other ways God planned to be of assistance to us well ahead of time:

21: 36-50:

"When the disbelievers see you ˹O Prophet˺, they only make fun of you, ˹saying,˺ “Is this the one who speaks ˹ill˺ of your gods?” while they disbelieve at the mention of the Most Compassionate.

Humankind is made of haste. I will soon show you My signs, so do not ask Me to hasten them.

They ask ˹the believers˺, “When will this threat come to pass if what you say is true?”

If only the disbelievers knew that a time will come when they will not be able to keep the Fire off their faces or backs, nor will they be helped.

In fact, the Hour will take them by surprise, leaving them stunned. So they will not be able to avert it, nor will it be delayed from them.

˹Other˺ messengers had already been ridiculed before you ˹O Prophet˺, but those who mocked them were overtaken by what they used to ridicule.

Ask ˹them, O  Prophet,˺ “Who can defend you by day or by night against the Most Compassionate?” Still they turn away from the remembrance of their Lord.

Or do they have gods—other than Us—that can protect them? They cannot ˹even˺ protect themselves, nor will they be aided against Us.

In fact, We have allowed enjoyment for these ˹Meccans˺ and their forefathers for such a long time ˹that they took it for granted˺. Do they not see that We gradually reduce ˹their˺ land from its borders? Is it they who will then prevail?

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I warn you only by revelation.” But the deaf cannot hear the call when they are warned!

We set up the scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so no soul will be wronged in the least. And ˹even˺ if a deed is the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as a ˹vigilant˺ Reckoner.

Indeed, We granted Moses and Aaron the decisive authority—a light and a reminder for the righteous,who are in awe of their Lord without seeing Him,1 and are fearful of the Hour.

And this ˹Quran˺ is a blessed reminder which We have revealed. Will you ˹pagans˺ then deny it?"

Commentary:

I covered much of this in the revelation of the Emirates. We cannot hasten the liberation of the mind from ignorance, only decide ignorance does not give man freedom nor God the glory.

Allah told Muhammad no soul must be harmed in the least in the eking out of its survival but trouble is all that visits this world. We are clearly worshipping the wrong gods, unprincipled beings that are no good for us. He called them Meccans. The whole world is shitting its pants over the future because of this.

The Quran asks instead, "Who fears the Most Compassionate?" No one. That is why they, not the Meccans who must be in charge. And that means we must begin to teach it to the world with haste if we ever expect to end the fear.

Statisics abound as to the very positive outcomes that result from investments made in Muslims. Anyone plans for peace in the Middle East must include what is going to be done with its youngest prospects. This is done all around the world with success but not in Muslim nations which have become dog pounds instead of kingdoms. The Surah and the science of statehood reminds us God has other plans.

[creativeera]

Protecting the Environment with Innovative Geomembrane Liners

What are Geomembranes? They are synthetic membrane liners made from plastic polymers such as HDPE (high-density polyethylene), LLDPE (linear low-density polyethylene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), or EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber). These liners are used in environmental engineering applications to contain liquid pollutants and prevent their migration into soil or groundwater. They provide an effective hydraulic barrier with very low permeability. Uses in Construction They have various uses in construction where liquid containment or barriers are needed: - Landfill Liners: Geomembrane are widely used as the bottom liner in municipal solid waste and hazardous waste landfills. They prevent leachate from liquid waste from seeping into the soil and groundwater below the landfill. - Lagoons and Ponds: Liners made of them form the impermeable bottom of containment ponds and lagoons used to hold wastewater, sewage, or other liquid wastes from industrial and mining sites. - Mining Applications: They are employed to line tailings ponds, heap leach pads, and other containment areas at mining operations. This protects surrounding environments from contaminants in process wastewater. - Tunnel and Canal Liners: Long sections are installed to line transportation tunnels and canals to prevent water ingress or seepage through walls made of soil or rock. - Reservoir and Canal Covers: They covers are placed over reservoirs and canals to reduce evaporation of stored water. Some are made of lighter materials for easy handling. - Drainage and Irrigation Systems: Drainage ditches and channels built using liners aid in collecting, transporting, and discharging excess water from agricultural fields. Manufacturing Processes The material and manufacturing process used depend on the specific application requirements for a project: - Extrusion is most common for HDPE and LLDPE membranes. Plastic resin pellets are heated and squeezed through a die to form a thin, wide sheet. - Calendering produces PVC by passing PVC resin between heated rollers to form sheets. - Thermally bonding small pellets produces seams for field-welding membrane sections together. - Coextrusion layers two plastics to combine properties like adding polypropylene for strength to HDPE’s flexibility. - Blown film extrusion forms thin tubular geomembranes, cooled and sliced open, useful for irregular landfill shapes. Quality Standards Manufacturers adhere to ASTM international standards for geomembranes to ensure consistency and performance reliability. Key tests include: - Thickness measurement ensures uniformity. - Low-temperature bend tests determine flexibility at cool temperatures during installation. - Tensile strength tests evaluate membrane durability under stresses like overlying materials. - Tear resistance testing mimics punctures from construction or wind-blown debris. - Hydrostatic pressure analysis simulates ability to withstand hydraulic head from liquids. - Chemical resistance ensures stability when in contact with landfill leachate or industrial wastes. On-Site Installation of Geomembranes Proper installation methods avoid performance issues from handling, seaming, or surrounding site conditions: - Membranes are seamed in the field by thermal or extrusion welding machines moving along seams to fuse edges together under controlled temperature and pressure conditions. - Seams are non-destructively tested by air lance method locating holes from defective welds to be repaired before use. - Geomembranes are anchored at edges with soil, sand bags, or engineered anchor trenches to prevent movement from wind or water pressures. - Subgrade surfaces must be smooth with no sharp objects, changes, or desiccation cracks where membrane could be damaged during unfurling and laying processes. - Manufacturers provide installation guidelines like heat-welding temperatures, weather limitations, personnel training certification, and quality assurance inspection programs. Benefits  for Environmental Protection

They provide many economic and environmental advantages over traditional earthen liners and surface coatings: - Higher impermeability rating of 10-11 m/sec versus 10-9 m/sec for clay reduces leakages minimizes environmental liabilities from spills or releases. - Thinner membrane footprints require less excavation and materials handling compared to compacted clay liners, reducing project costs and schedules. - seam ability to flex and move with subsidence prevents damage versus rigid asphalt or concrete coatings prone to cracking from soil movement. - Resistance to punctures, root penetration and desiccation cracking maintain full containment integrity for the 40-60 year design life of modern hazardous waste landfills and surface impoundments. - Higher durability and chemical stability withstand corrosive wastes and harsh conditions better than other barrier methods. As environmental regulations evolve, innovative geomembrane technology will continue modernizing the design of containment structures to ensure sustainable waste management practices that always place protection of human health and the natural environment as top priorities.

Get more insights on Geomembrane

Vaagisha brings over three years of expertise as a content editor in the market research domain. Originally a creative writer, she discovered her passion for editing, combining her flair for writing with a meticulous eye for detail. Her ability to craft and refine compelling content makes her an invaluable asset in delivering polished and engaging write-ups.

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaagisha-singh-8080b91)

[smoservicesblog]

Book Your Comfortable Ride from Vijayawada to Rajahmundry with SVR Cabs

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Planning Your Trip with SVR Cabs

Booking your Vijayawada to Rajahmundry taxi with SVR Cabs is a breeze. Here's how to get started:

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For a comfortable, convenientour travel experience.

[shammah8]

🕊️🌺Wendy🌺🕊️:

The Rains First mention of the rains occurred when God brought the chosen nation out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

DEUTERONOMY 11:10,11 10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.

Agriculture in Egypt depended upon the rise and fall of the Nile.

Irrigation ditches were dug and waterwheels operated with the feet.

Harvest in the Promised Land depends upon seasonal rains. Those rains would depend upon their loving and obeying God.

DEUTERONOMY 11:13,14 13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy com, and thy wine, and thine oil.

Israel has two seasonal rains. The former rains begin in late October and November. They are the first rains of the civil year which begins just before the rains start. The former rains prepare the ground for planting the seed. The latter rains are in late winter and early spring. They water the fields just before the early barley harvest. Without the rains there are no harvests.

DEUTERONOMY 11:16,17 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit....

God warned Israel against the idolatrous worship of the Canaanites who later tempted them probably saying something like, "Oh, Jehovah was all right down there in Egypt with the Nile and all. But here we must appease our rain god. His name is Baal."

In the progressive revelation of the Bible we see that the rains are heavy with meaning.

God's people were to wait only upon God for the rains. (Jeremiah 14:22.) God's people were to ask the Lord for the rains. (Zechariah 10:1.) The Holy Spirit through the prophet Joel reveals that these rains are types and shadows of the outpouring of God's Spirit:

JOEL 2:23-25,28,29 23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm....

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost revealed that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy.

118 The Rains of the Spirit ACTS 2:14-18 14 But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts is the former rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It came to prepare the ground for the sowing of the seed.

The latter rain outpouring came at the beginning of this last prophetic century of the sixth day. The Azusa Street outpouring was a part of it. The old-timers we've been referring to were a part of it. It came before the early harvest.

But the Bible prophesies an outpouring when the early rains and the latter rains will come together. Joel prophesied a coming of the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:23.) The Holy Spirit through James revealed that the great third and final outpouring of the age will come just before the coming of the Lord!

JAMES 5:7,8 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord, Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth The Husbandman is God the Father. (John 15:1.) A husbandman is a farmer. God the Father is the best Farmer ever there was or ever will be.

He has a field. Earth. God's field will receive an outpouring of the Spirit likened unto the former and latter rains coming together. The glories of this outpouring will produce the grandest crop ever there was or ever will be. A great harvest of the "precious fruit of the earth" will come in to the glory of God the Father.

The third and last outpouring of the Spirit before Jesus comes will include everything in the book of Acts plus everything in the outpouring at the beginning of this century put together!☕️🌺Billye Brim

[christian-perspectives]

Love And Obedience, The Basic Requirements Of God

If we asked a hundred people what they thought God required of them, we’d probably get a hundred different answers. The answer, though, always includes two words: love and obedience. Our text for today comes from the Book of Deuteronomy. But stick with me because love and obedience bring the Old Testament commands and New Testament together. If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then . . .  Deuteronomy 11:13 Evidently, the people Moses addressed in this chapter were under twenty, forty years prior. Before they would enter the promised land, he needed to give them these instructions. You must love the Lord your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands. Deuteronomy 11:1 Then Moses reminded them of how God cared for them during the years they traveled through the wilderness. Speaking to the older generation, not to their children, he said again, . . . Obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. Deuteronomy 11:8 He emphasized that the Lord wanted to bless them and abundantly give them a long life. But to receive those blessings, God required their love and obedience. If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey! Deuteronomy 11:9

Description of the Promised Land

Quite a few of that older generation remembered the food they grew and ate in Egypt. God assured them that the land He promised them was much better. - For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt - where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. - the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain— - a land that the Lord your God cares for. - He watches over it through each season of the year! Deuteronomy 11:10-12 He continued by telling them to love God and live in obedience to all His commands. Because the blessings would continue as they served Him with all their hearts. - then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains— - so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. - He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, - and you yourselves will have all you want to eat. Deuteronomy 11:14-15

The Importance of God's Instructions

Moses could not emphasize enough the importance of God’s instructions. He stressed for them to love God by living in obedience to His commands. He wanted them to commit themselves wholeheartedly to His words. Then Moses offered suggestions on how they could consciously make that commitment. - Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. - Teach them to your children. - Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. - Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 11:18-20 In reading these verses, the blessings promised by the Lord all revolved around the land and its production. Including the fertile ground to produce good crops and make excellent pastureland. Maybe when you think of the blessings from the Lord, farmland and crops don’t even enter your mind. God blessed them with what they needed, and He’ll bless you with what you need. But to receive God’s blessings, we must follow the same principles written in this chapter. According to Moses’ instructions, we must love God and live in obedience to His Word. Sometimes, we can become very lax in loving and obeying God. Our attitude at times shows that our love and obedience to Him revolves around if we feel like it.

The Principles Hinge on Love and Obedience

Our love and obedience cannot hinge on our feelings. God wants them to naturally and continually flow out of us no matter how we feel. This chapter uses a word five times to help us get to that place. See if you can pick that word out to apply it to yourself. - Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today. Deuteronomy 11:8 - If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today. Deuteronomy 11:13 - But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived. Deuteronomy 11:16 - Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Deuteronomy 11:22 - You must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you. Deuteronomy 11:32 The principles still stand true today, and our options remain the same as well. Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! Deuteronomy 11:26

A Blessing or a Curse

No matter who reads that verse, God is speaking to them. And no matter when they read it, they are reading today. By our choice, we decide between an eternal blessing or an eternal curse. You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. Deuteronomy 11:27

Love in our Hearts with Obedience to His Word

When we live with love in our hearts and in obedience to God’s Word, He promises us His blessing. Which means an eternal home in heaven with the Lord. The other choice . . . But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before. Deuteronomy 11:28 That verse for us, means separated from God. In other words, it is an eternal curse, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Lord, we pray for your blessings. Help us to naturally show your love and live in obedience to your Word. Check out these related posts about love. - How Have You Shown Your Love To God? - What God Has Prepared For Those Who Love Him - The Commandment To Love Is Nothing New Read the full article

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In August, Christophe Laberge found himself wrestling with his conscience a few months into a new job at a mining exploration site after a small diesel spill left him wondering how British Columbia tracks and handles hazardous spills of all sizes.

He had been working at a ski lodge to take a summer job in mineral exploration, searching for and with the idea of working outside and thought it would be a chance to use his degree in geography and earn money.

Laberge started working at Alpha Copper’s Indata Project in May 2022. It took driving through several kilometres of forest service roads before Laberge reached his new worksite, the Indata Project site near Albert Lake, about 130 kilometres from the community of Fort St. James. The main forestry road towards the site branches off into smaller and smaller roads. As the roads got smaller and the forest got thicker, Laberge remembers thinking the ecosystem felt “pristine.”

Laberge started working at Alpha Copper’s Indata Project after driving through several kilometres of forest service roads before he reached his new worksite, the Indata Project site near Albert Lake, about 130 kilometres from the community of roads towards the site branching off into smaller and smaller the roads got smaller and the forest got thicker, Laberge remembers thinking the ecosystem felt "pristine."

Companies have been searching for valuable minerals at the Indata site for decades, as was clear from the range of heavy equipment: trucks, excavators, and a drill to get at the samples below the surface helped around camp with tasks like building the irrigation system and setting up generators.

He also took soil samples to help the company find a designated shovel and a hand auger, a manual tool to help boreholes, and put them in a brown paper bag and labelled it with coordinates to be smelled like dust and diesel fumes when the drills running but if Laberge walked far enough away, he could still smell the fresh forest air.

Then, four months into his job, Laberge’s supervisor asked him to do something he hadn’t been asked before: shovel diesel-soaked dirt into the back of a pickup truck that had been a spill and were told to keep it quiet," Laberge said the big meeting was called, and Laberge said the crew was told by the site manager at the time of the spill, geoscientist Bob Johnston, that if the nearby Takla Nation learned about it, they were going to be in "big trouble company if they didn’t report the spill to the First Nation or to the provincial government.

Johnston told The Narwhal a porcupine likely chewed through a fuel line used to run the drill of the diesel entered a small watercourse crew member tried to use dish soap to push the surface oil towards absorbent pads meant to soak up the diesel and asked if he told the crew not to report the spill Johnston said: "I can’t remember if I did or not."

Laberge estimates that between 80 and 100 litres leaked from the diesel tank, though the company disputes that, saying it was probably around 10 according to the B.C.’s Environmental Management Act, all spills, regardless of volume, that enter or are likely to enter a body of water must be reported includes ditches, springs, streams or creeks reporting could lead to administrative fines of up to $75,000.

Even if it was just one litre of contaminant, if it entered the water it should have been reported, Allen Edzerza, Tahltan Elder and former representative of the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council, told The Narwhal an industrial spill and this kind of contamination impacts the quality of the water, impacts the aquatic life in the water, it has the potential to impact wildlife and is certainly not good for the forest."

There are thousands of mining and exploration projects across British Columbia, and the industry is expanding at a rapid pace, reaching a nearly 10-year high in 2021 at $660 to a B.C. north, while exploration sites alone increased by more than 55 percent from 2020 to 2021, to over 170 projects. 

To monitor each site at all times is an impossible task, and so British Columbians have to rely on companies to self-report, and what if they don’t?

Edzerza said spills should not be worked with the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council, which advocates on behalf of First Nations in B.C. for mining and energy, for ten years.

If the spill was reportable, “the province needs to be involved to make sure that the cleanup is done in such a way that it minimizes environmental impacts to the land,” Edzerza, who left the council last February, said.

The regulatory regime depends on companies self-reporting, and when that information doesn’t get to the government, it’s a significant problem, Gavin Smith, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, told The Narwhal.

The Indata Project, led by Alpha Copper and Eastfield Resources Ltd, was originally staked by Imperial Metals Corp in 1983. It covers an area of 3,189 hectares and 16 mineral claims, which gives claim-holders the right to access an area for exploration and development. Some of the claims overlap Nation Lakes Provincial Park, as they were staked before the park was created. Approximately $2.6 million has been spent searching for valuable minerals on the property, according to a 2019 technical report. There are no reported spills at the Indata site on the province’s major spill incident list or compliance and enforcement database.

The Indata Project, led by Alpha Copper and Eastfield Resources Ltd., was originally staked by Imperial Metals Corp. in 1983 and covers an area of 3,189 hectares and 16 mineral claims, which give claim-holders the right to access an area for exploration and development. According to a 2019 technical report, $2.6 million has been spent searching for valuable minerals on the property, and there have been no reported spills at the Indata site on the province's major spill incident list or compliance and enforcement database. 

According to Laberge, he and a few other crew members were instructed to dig out the contaminated dirt and bury it in the forest, and Johnston confirmed that a "minor amount went into a small intermittent water flow that was used as the water source for the drill" in an email.

Johnston told The Narwhal over the phone that the crew used absorbent pads to soak up the diesel that had spilled into the water and then burned the pads to clean it up, which wasn't a big deal. 

But digging a hole and filling it with contaminated soil, using dish soap, and burning diesel-soaked pads are all “highly unorthodox” practices, Dean May, a hazardous materials technician, told The Narwhal. “I can’t believe that whoever would be in charge of that site, whoever the jurisdiction is, would allow that any contaminated material be transported to a facility to properly dispose of it," he added.

May, who is president of Mayken Hazmat Solutions based in Calgary, has been cleaning up spills for more than 25 years, dealing with everything from train derailments to truck accident spills, large spills, and everything in between, he said.

Assuring the proper authorities are notified is important because if part of the cleanup process is not done properly, damage can be done to the environment, May said.

While Laberge remembers the diesel entering a creek, Johnston said that would be “vastly overstating” the size of the watercourse.

Johnston Laberge is certain diesel reached the lake a few days after the spill; he said he had a soil sample line that took him right to the lake's shore, where he saw diesel on the edge of the water in some spots and could smell it.

When asked about the decision not to report the spill, Johnston, who confirmed he was the manager at the time, responded, "It was more important to not respond to specific questions but provide a statement saying the company takes our environmental and social responsibility very seriously.

Lawyer Gavin Smith did not comment on the specifics of this incident but said, “For something like a diesel spill into a water body, which is a legally required thing to report, there should be significant follow-up from British Columbia on that.”

According to Kendra Johnston, president and CEO of The Association for Mineral Exploration, which represents over 5,000 members working in mineral exploration in British Columbia, narwhal spills are rare and are cleaned up quickly and effectively with spill kits, Johnston said in an email. 

Spill kits typically contain things like personal protective equipment, absorbent materials, shovels, and containment drums, which, according to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s spill management guidelines, do not contain detergent or soap.

According to the Environmental Management Act, if a reportable spill occurs, a call must be made immediately to Emergency Management BC. Emergency Management BC needs to know when and where the spill occurred, what was spilled, and what other agencies and First Nation governments have been notified of. A follow-up report is also required to be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy with more details about the cause and potential adverse effects of the spill on human health or the environment. 

None of this happened at the Indata Project site in August, and the spill response didn’t sit well with Laberge, so he snapped a few photos in October, after his contract was finished, and reported the spill to the Ministry of Forestry’s natural resource violation reporting line, using an online form.

The automated response Laberge received left him appreciating you taking the time to bring this to our attention as all complaints help inform our enforcement strategies and priorities, and officer capacity may lead to some complaints not being actioned," the email read.

Multiple types of officers address environmental concerns. They are mandated by different provincial and federal ministries, and there can be overlapping in what sites they might visit or inspect.

The B.C. government has faced criticism that it’s not doing enough to ensure resource development projects comply with environmental rules. A 2016 report from B.C.’s auditor general specifically reviewed oversight at major mines and found there was “inadequate capacity and expertise to effectively use” enforcement tools. Capacity concerns around overall environmental enforcement have been raised, as West Coast Environmental Law has long criticized what it dubs “B.C.’s low rates of environmental enforcement."

These concerns go back to Andrew Gage, a lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, who told The Narwhal officers are making do with the resources they have, but there needs to be more support to ensure officers can get out in the Gage said that includes supporting scientists and administrators, and, ultimately, “that should be paid for by the industries that they are regulating,” Gage said.

Multiple government agencies oversee mining and exploration sites, including the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and the Ministry of Compliance, which concerns training opportunities, joint inspections, and "observing, recording, and reporting" for one another, according to a Ministry of Mines webpage. 

The Narwhal looked at staffing and inspection data across multiple ministries. Data shows inspections and compliance actions with natural resource officers, who enforce legislation across the natural resource sector, have been generally declining. Inspections have dropped by more than 50 percent, from 7,270 inspections a decade ago to 3,520 in the most recent reporting year. The Ministry of Forests did not provide any clarifications on why inspections have dropped.

To clarify, the Ministry of Environment said this is just one database but was not able to provide more data before publication.

The Narwhal inquired about the incident with the Ministries of Environment and Forestry, as well as the Ministry of Mines about their Ministry of Environment, which confirmed in a statement that the spill was reported to the natural resource violation reporting line more than a month after "the alleged Conservation Officer Service is now investigating and "next steps will be determined following the investigation," a statement from the Ministry of Environment.

B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau said she is aware of capacity issues across some agencies tasked with environmental enforcement and compliance in the resource sectors, and specifically in the mining sector, which has been a long-standing and well-documented problem in BC with very serious consequences," Furstenau wrote in an email and believes there needs to be more funding and personnel.

While Laberge reported this incident to the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Mines has its own enforcement unit to monitor the approximately 1,388 coal and mineral exploration sites and 2,655 mines, quarries, and sand and gravel operations across the province, according to the most recent annual report of the chief inspector of the Ministry of Mines, who is responsible for ensuring all those sites are following the rules. 

Since the 2016 auditor general’s report, the 2019 budget promised $20 million over three years to fund up to 65 new staff to "enhance regulatory effectiveness through the creation of the Mining Health, Safety, and Enforcement Division," of which 65 staff were hired by the end of 2021, Peter Lonergan, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines, said in an email.

In 2017, a new unit was also established to investigate serious incidents at mines and share findings for prevention Investigations Unit "completed 11 reports recommending administrative monetary penalties" in 2020/21, according to the chief inspector’s annual report. 

The investments and restructuring have allowed the Ministry to manage the increase in exploration across the province and “use a risk-based approach to inform Lonergan said in 2022, the ministry exceeded its mine inspection targets by over 500, reaching 2119 inspections.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Mines, the number of inspectors and inspections has now reached 102 inspectors in charge of over 4,100 sites across the province.

Questions around this spill raise concerns about the need to be respectful, and you have to have an honest relationship to not report an environmental issue like this as a "black eye on all of the mining industry, not just one company."

When Laberge was notified that capacity concerns might not lead to any action on his report, he decided to reach out to the Takla Nation on Facebook, whose territory in North Central B.C. covers approximately 27,250 square kilometres of lakes, rivers, and forests between the Rockies and the Skeena Mountains.

The administrator for Takla Nation’s Facebook page responded, thanking Laberge for reporting the incident to them and asking for more information so one at Takla Nation could speak to The Narwhal about this specific incident, but it did confirm Laberge’s Facebook message in October was the first they had heard of the spill.

Guardians are experts who manage Indigenous protected areas through environmental testing and restoration, and over 110 Guardians' roles involve engaging with other land users, including industry and governments.

The federal government recently announced $800 million over seven years to support four Indigenous-led protected areas.

This January, three months after he reported the spill, Laberge got a phone call that told him a conservation officer had reached out to him to gather a few more details about the spill happening now, and that feels good.

For Laberge, his short experience led him to step away from working in his new job; he’s now able to connect with nature and now works at a ski lodge near Golden, B.C., taking guests hiking through some of North America’s largest alpine meadows and backcountry skiing to "appreciate it, leave no trace, keep it clean, and try to preserve the environment."

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Important Parts of Golf Courses

One of the most important parts of golf courses is the putting green. The putting green is a section of the golf course where golfers practice the art of putting by reading the topography, speed, and grain of the green before they address the ball. This allows golfers to make precise strokes with a putter club that has a low loft and rolls the ball smoothly. Putting greens may be curved, flat, or even have slight undulations. Players are permitted to pick up their golf ball on the green, but they must place a ball marker behind it before doing so. When the ball hits the cup, the golf course is considered completed.

Water is another important part of a golf course. Water hazards vary in size and shape, and some are even natural. Others are man-made and are shaped by the golf course designer. Many of these areas are catchments for rainwater or serve as irrigation ditches. No matter what type of water is on a golf course, water hazards must be avoided to prevent accidents. Make sure to learn here!

Stadium courses, which are the most popular types of golf courses, are usually designed with spectators in mind. The course layout is often designed with strong vantage points and exciting holes to attract spectators. While the most famous stadium course in golf is the PGA Tour's TPC Sawgrass, there are also many other popular types of stadium courses. Among these are short courses and par-3 courses. While they may not be the most challenging, these are often the most fun to play. For more facts about golfs, visit this website at https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-golfers-2068499.

Since the 1960s, concerns over the environmental impact of golf courses have risen. These concerns range from water usage for irrigation to the use of chemical pesticides. Other environmental concerns include the destruction of wetlands during construction. The United Nations estimates that golf courses globally consume 2.5 billion gallons of water a day. To address these concerns, many golf courses are now irrigated using non-potable water. Some golf courses also use chemicals that are harmful to bird species.

Grass quality is also important for golf courses. A good quality grass has a direct impact on the ball's ability to roll. It also plays a major role in the ability of the player to "take a divot" the ball. In addition, mowing heights also affect the way a golf course plays. For instance, during the U.S. Open, grass heights are often low or high, depending on the distance to the greens.

Many golf courses at https://www.cypresswood.com/ also include practice greens and driving ranges. Practice greens are smaller and easier to play than full-sized courses, and they allow golfers to perfect their swings and measure club distances. Practice ranges often include old holes from previous designs that are still maintained for practice.

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The 4 Types of Home Drainage System

When caring for your home's foundation, having adequate drainage is of the utmost importance. Your goal should be to keep as much moisture out of your house as possible. There are typically four different drain installation methods used in homes, and it is essential to select the one that is most suitable for your property. To assist you in determining which type of drainage system is ideal for your needs, the following information will be presented.

Designing for Drain Installation:

When it comes to landscaping, one word is frequently overlooked: Drainage. It is true whether you are a homeowner or a contractor. Without an adequate drainage system in place, that beautifully designed lawn or those acres of lush green grass won't be able to withstand the forces of nature.

If you don't come from a plumbing background, you probably aren't familiar with the necessary steps to ensure that your drainage system will continue to function correctly for many years. Drains are an essential component of any yard, whether used for irrigation, maintaining the lawn, or simply attempting to prevent the formation of puddles.

Drainage Methods for Private Properties

Drainage systems in residential areas collect and transport away any excess water that may accumulate. This system assists in directing water away from roofs, walkways, and driveways so that you can avoid flooding. A buildup of water can cause rotting, mould, mildew growth, and structural damage in buildings. Residential drainage systems are critical because they prevent the buildup of moisture. We have gone over the requirements and recommendations for residential structures regarding drainage systems here.

Drainage System for the Surface

You need to install a surface drainage system if you live on very flat land. If your home does not have an adequate drainage system, rain that collects on flat surfaces can cause water to pool, which can cause water damage inside the house. To facilitate surface drainage, someone must dig a few ditches, which will serve as conduits for excess water. To protect your home from flooding, they will direct the water away from it. These drainage systems are adaptable for various applications, including driveways and walkways.

2. Drainage Network Below the Surface

These drainage systems are concealed beneath the ground's surface. They are designed to extract the surplus water that accumulates in the environment beneath them. It not only helps to get rid of excess water but also helps trees and plants, which would otherwise rot if water were to become trapped around them. Along with a drain, this system makes use of pipes that are buried at a significant depth. Using a sump pump to force water through these pipes is also possible.

3. Drainage System for Steep Terrain

In addition, pipes are utilised to install these drainage systems; however, rather than being buried beneath the ground, the lines are positioned on an incline. Because of this, water will move away from your house on its own accord because it is situated on a slope that slopes downward. These pipes can be constructed out of concrete, steel, or plastic, and a protective layer is wrapped around them so that people do not accidentally fall into them.

4. Systems for the Downspouts and Gutters

A gutter and downspout system may be the most critical component of your home's drainage system. Your roof's downspout should be connected to the gutters so that any excess water that collects there can be carried away. If you do not have this, rainwater will run off your roof and into your home and the ground, resulting in water damage to your landscaping and erosion. If there is a significant accumulation of water, it may even cause the basement to flood.

Get in touch with drainage specialists for all of your needs!

To receive superior service for drain installation, it is best to contact professionals, whether you need a new sump pump installed or you want to waterproof your entire basement. They have a great deal of experience in drain installation, mould testing, and mould remediation, and our goal is to get you to a place where you feel more at ease in your home.

Know more: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YtNR9rs7ZqCjTduo8