#Ape Canyon

[vermilllionsands]

Severino Baraldi

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 303: Seth Breedlove – Small Town Monster

"I'm not interested in trying to prove to people that the Mothman exists or that Bigfoot exists. We're just interested in letting the witnesses tell their story and making things come across in a clear way."  -- Seth Breedlove, Astonishing Legends episode 116, "Small Town Monsters" August 2018

Description:

This week, we’re delving into the world of cryptids and unexplained phenomena again with Seth Breedlove, founder of Small Town Monsters. Celebrating 10 years of documenting America’s legends, 2025 promises to be their most ambitious year yet with four new projects. We'll discuss Dawn of the Dogman, exploring Michigan’s mysterious Dogman, and The Kinderhook Creature, a chilling tale from New York's Hudson Valley. As well as upcoming projects on the eerie Bennington Triangle and the harrowing Siege of Ape Canyon. Join us as we uncover the stories behind these fascinating legends and how Small Town Monsters continues to push the boundaries of cryptid filmmaking. Plus, Seth shares some of the most unusual encounters he's had along the way.

Reference Links:

The Small Town Monsters website – smalltownmonsters.com

Small Town Monsters 10th Anniversary Kickstarter

Small Town Monsters documentary productions

Small Town Monsters book publications

Minerva, Ohio

Leesville Lake, Ohio

The Michigan Dogman

“The Kinderhook Creature and Beyond: A Personal Reminiscence” by: Bruce G. Hallenbeck

Bennington Triangle

Ape Canyon

“How a 1924 Bigfoot battle on Mt. St. Helens helped launch a legend: Throwback Thursday” from The Oregonian

Astonishing Legends Episode 116: Small Town Monsters

Astonishing Legends Episode 25: “Kidnapped by Bigfoot - The Albert Ostman Story”

Astonishing Legends Episode 49: “Monsters Among Us” with Linda Godfrey

Astonishing Legends Episode 85: “The Bell Witch Part 1”

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving

Suggested Listening:

National Park After Dark

The outdoors has always captured people’s attention. Whether you venture outside to be closer to nature, escape day-to-day life, or find peace – humans and wild places have always gone hand in hand. But no matter how much you love the outdoors, it has a dark side. Every week, National Park After Dark brings listeners to these beautiful locations as hosts Cassie and Danielle share tales of dark history, animal attacks, fatal accidents, miraculous survivals, the paranormal, and so much more that take place right inside some of the world’s most picturesque places. Millions of people venture to the world’s National Parks unaware of the stories they hold—from deadly treasure hunts to mysterious disappearances, death by grizzly bears, guidance from unseen companions, and visits from otherworldly beings. Come find out why some of those people never leave. Tune in every Monday on your favorite listening platform for an adventure to a new park, an exploration into its beauty—and its darkness. National Park After Dark is a podcast created for the morbid outdoor enthusiast. Remember to enjoy the view, but watch your back!

From the Astonishing Legends Network:

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CREDITS:

Episode 303: Seth Breedlove – Small Town Monster. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2025 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[casbooks]

Book 49 of 2024 (★★★★★)

Title: Never Without Heroes: Marine Third Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam, 1965-70 Authors: Lawrence C. Vetter Jr.

ISBN: 9780804108072 Rating ★★★★★ Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.Marine Recon, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.SpecOps.US.USMC

Description: FOUR CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS OF HONOR, THIRTEEN NAVAL CROSSES, SEVENTY-TWO SILVER STARS . . . In four and a half years in Vietnam, the Marines of the Third Reconnaissance Battalion repeatedly penetrated North Vietnamese and Vietcong sanctuaries by foot and by helicopter to find enemy forces, learn the enemy's intentions, and, when possible, bring deadly fire down on his head. Heavily armed, well-camouflaged teams of six and eight men daily exposed themselves to overwhelming enemy forces so that other Marines would have the information necessary to fight the war. It's all here: grueling, tense, and deadly recon patrols; insertions directly into NVA basecamps; last-stand defenses in the wreckage of downed helicopters; pursuit by superior North Vietnamese forces; agonizing deaths of men who valiantly put their lives on the line. NEVER WITHOUT HEROES is the first book to recount the story of a Marine reconnaissance battalion in Vietnam from the day of its arrival to its withdrawal. In Vietnam, Larry Vetter served as a platoon leader in Third Recon Battalion. He supplements his own recollections with Marine Corps records, exhaustive interviews with veterans, and correspondence to capture the bravery, and self-sacrifice of war.

My Review: Vetter said it best when he wrote that he wanted to "portray the history of the 3rd Recon Battalion and its men in Vietnam in a historical, factual, and personal way." Well, I have to say Mission Accomplished! Few books are as unflinchingly raw in their criticism as they are in their effusive praise, but Vetter pulls no punches when he describes just how out of touch the chain of command was from the actual situation on the ground that the Recon Marines experienced. Whether it was Gen. Walts refusal to accept reality because he had his own agenda to push, or the lack of support, respect, and belief the teams got from their rear commanders. The criticisms of the Generals alone is well worth reading in this book, especially the excerpts where Vetter looks at the Generals articles in the Marine Corps Gazette and shreds them for how much they lack any credibility to what was actually occurring in Vietnam during those commanders tours. But this book is more than just that aspect, it also tells the story of the history of the unit from the early patrols to the last ones. Telling both the big picture overview of what was happening in I Corps, the fights with Westmoreland vs Walt over how to prosecute the war in I Corps, and the on the ground view of teams in action throughout the Backyard, Charlie Ridge, Leatherneck Square and on the ground at Khe Sanh. The stories from the survivors of missions gone hellaciously bad, to the stories of those who were lost forever, Vetter manages to piece together multiple viewpoints, sources, and stories to give the reader the full picture of 3rd Recon's time in Vietnam. This book jumps from academic facts to incredible story telling with ease, page after page, and it is truly one of the best books on the subject of this incredibly heroic unit in the face of an enemy in the field and an adversary in it's own command structure.

[ohwaitimthewriter]

The Memory Keeper

Chapter 4: Mend.

Pairing: Noa x human!reader

Warnings: None?

Summarize (please I'm so bad at writing these!): A woman, allowed to live as long as the virus keeps running through her body, living on autopilot for 260 years, is going to see her life takes a new turn, finding hope in something that might come to put an end to her wandering.

Words: 3.6k+

A/N: So... My brain did a thing and I just went with it!

Enjoy your reading 😊

The Memory Keeper masterlist.

Broken.

It was a simple word. Just a series of sounds combined together. Nothing more and nothing less than the strange association of letters that came to form a particular meaning.

It had been a long time since you'd experienced the devastating impact of a simple word.

Broken.

There was a distant echo to the word.

The frame was broken.

This frame that had been with you for so many years that today your brain no longer knew how to depict the passage of time. It was nothing more than a shadow. A shadow that seemed to stretch on indefinitely, so far away from you that you wondered whether it had a beginning or an end. All that remained was a sensation of emptiness. An emptiness that deepened at the back of your skull, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of a lost soul. Or rather, was it an ocean? An abyss so deep and vast that the mere idea of plunging into it made you dizzy. It was like walking on the precipice of a canyon, and the fear of heights gripped your stomach every time you dared a brief glance towards that bottomless void.

Every time you looked back, you felt as if you were sinking deeper into the abyss known as time.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

"(Name)!"

You ignored the throaty young voice trying to get your attention. It was the first time in 5 years that you'd found yourself back in the middle of the rubble of an abandoned city, and you'd spotted a building in the distance that looked promising for what you were looking for.

In 5 years, the city had changed drastically. Vegetation had begun to cover the walls of houses and plants of all kinds had invaded any building, standing or not, that crossed your path.

You had to be careful. The asphalt that had once been a heavily trafficked road was cracked all over, creating crevasses that were sometimes invisible because of the flora that had embedded in them.

"(Name) wait! It's dangerous!"

The young ape was doing his best to keep up with you, but you were way ahead of him. So much ahead that he kept losing sight of you as you navigated between the ruins of a recently extinguished human civilization. He congratulated himself on being able to follow your scent, because soon, despite his best efforts, you had disappeared into the meanders of partially collapsed buildings.

You moved deeper into the center of the city and finally came upon the destroyed front of the building you intended to investigate.

You remembered that, at the time, this building was nothing other than a shopping mall and what you were looking for could only be found inside such a structure. This was the third one you'd visited, and if the other two hadn't been a success, you were still holding out hope that this one would be.

You looked around, looking for a clue among the branches and leaves that had covered the walls of the stores that met your expectations. The window fronts were broken and the glass cracked under your weight with every step you took as you ventured further inside the mall.

The hurried footsteps of the ape travelling with you suddenly echoed through the building, and you watched him move from quadruped to biped in a fraction of a second, his eyes wide with curiosity and wariness at this place he had never set foot in before.

There was plenty to admire. The building still stood feverishly on its foundations, and no fewer than 5 floors rose above your heads. The once luminous signs were shaky, sometimes suspended by a single live wire or fallen over, the neon lights forming the letters of the store names broken and detached from their bases. Numerous plants climbed the walls and twisted around stair railings and poles and one tree, a poplar if you remembered the name correctly, had even taken root in the center of the hall.

"What… is that?" The young ape asked, slowly moving closer to you as if to protect himself from the immensity of a place evoking a past that only you had known perfectly.

You were focused on pulling out the stems of a wisteria that had woven itself around a large panel showing the floor plan of the building. As you seemed to be ignoring him, he leaned over the plan, taking advantage of your proximity to gently bump your arm with his slightly bent hand.

The slight pressure he applied to attract your attention had the desired effect, and you ended up meeting his green eyes. A look that kept reminding you of his father.

"A shopping mall." You answered him before focusing again on reading the plan.

He huffed as if in agreement, even though he had no idea what a shopping mall was. He got down on all fours again, deciding it was best to leave you to your business, but he didn't have the heart to venture too far from you either.

It was a world he didn't know very well.

Sure, he'd had all the stories told by Maurice, Rocket and sometimes, when you were willing, by you. But the stories were… stories. It was maybe the first time you'd allowed him to go with you beyond the woods. Maybe because you felt it was time for him to get to know the outside world? Or maybe because he'd grown big enough and strong enough to manage on his own in an unfamiliar environment?

When he watched you, he couldn't help noticing that he wasn't yet as tall as you when he stood on his own two legs. Another year? Less? Before he finally reached your height? He'd learned that his father was a few centimetres taller than you, and from that day on, it had almost become a personal goal for him: to become as big and as imposing as his father, a strong, powerful and reliable ape who could be trusted in all circumstances.

No one had ever forced this goal on him, and no one had ever expected him to be exactly like his father. He'd put this idea into his head all by himself, because he wanted only one thing: to be worthy of his father.

For now, he might still be too young to carry on the legacy, but this was his challenge: to prove that he could embody his father's values with pride.

He suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as you started walking again, beckoning him to follow, and he wasted no time in following in your footsteps, as if he'd become your shadow.

" This way. Come on!"

You took the stairs and, eager to show himself braver than he felt at the moment, Cornelius decided to take the lead, carefully checking that the steps on which you would put your feet would hold your weight. Reaching the second-to-last step, he considered the staircase safe and jumped straight onto the landing, looking back to watch your progress. As you drew closer to the last step, he held out his hand to offer you his assistance, which you might consider useless given the ease with which you were moving, but he offered it anyway out of pure sympathy.

You smiled kindly and accepted, not unexpectedly, slipping your hand into his.

It was a habit. When Cornelius was younger, he'd developed the habit of dragging you with him wherever he went, holding you firmly by the hand. At first, you always had your back bent, having to adapt your posture to his small stature, and even more so when he impatiently ran on all fours to drag you to whatever he absolutely had to show you. Then, as he grew older, you managed to regain an upright posture, and despite the maturity he was gradually gaining right up to the present day, he would always take your hand to guide you to a place he wanted to show you.

He was proud to be able to hold your hand, just as he was proud to have Maurice and Rocket with him to teach him to become an adult ape, a future leader. You who had known his father, as Maurice and Rocket knew him. Being able to hold your hand was like being able to hold his father's hand. A form of continuity that he nurtured.

He asked you for directions in sign language, and after giving them to him, he guided you, keeping the lead.

Cornelius was still young. You could see it in the way he moved. His body was still trying to find a balance between the young ape he was and the adult he was about to become. His shoulders weren't as broad as his father's, and the muscles in his back still lacked strength, but that would soon change. Seeing him take the initiative to guide you through an unfamiliar place made you feel proud of what he was becoming. You knew him well, the unknown had never been his forte, but witnessing him defy the fear that once would have made him hide behind your legs, you could only be proud of him.

The store you were looking for suddenly appeared in front of your eyes and you stopped abruptly, causing a twinge in your shoulder as Cornelius continued forward. You gritted your teeth and the hissing breath you produced stopped Cornelius dead in his tracks.

"There it is!"

You withdrew your hand from his and began to rummage around the room. Cornelius followed your every move, not really knowing what you were so eagerly looking for. He simply felt that you knew exactly what you wanted.

And then, a sigh of joy escaped your mouth and Cornelius came over to crouch right beside you, nuzzling his shoulder against yours for some sort of comfort, he leaned forward slightly to observe what you were holding in your hands.

A strange square object surrounded by a piece of wood, slightly cracked on one corner. While you still held the object in your hands, he traced the outline of the wood to stop at the cracked corner.

"Broken?" he asked.

And you smiled at him, and shrugged.

"We can mend it." You answered, placing the wooden frame in your bag.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

You were gone.

Not only had you left the house, Noa had heard you call your horse, and after a few minutes, the pounding of hooves leaving your clearing left him shaken. Raka gave him a quizzical look, but found himself without an answer.

He didn't understand. Had he said or done something wrong? Was it so bad that you decided to leave on horseback at nightfall?

His eyes fell on the blanket. It hid the object of all troubles. He was unsure.

If you'd put that blanket over it, you certainly didn't want him to look.

But on the other hand…

You were gone.

As if to give himself some form of courage, he let out a heavy sigh through his nose, determined to understand what was so precious about this object.

He gently pushed back the blanket. The broken pieces of wood clung to the fabric and fell back onto the transparent plate as they hung slightly in the air, gravity doing its work.

The tinkling drew Raka's attention, and he came closer to peer at Noa tracing the outline of a square shape with his fingers.

Noa picked up an angular piece of wood and noted that the corner was cracked too, then his eyes fell on the transparent plate. He pressed his hand against it, a cool sensation emanating from the object, which also formed a square. Its corners were sharp, and he concluded that the wood was used to protect against cuts.

And then, beneath the transparent plate, there was an image. The half-light didn't bother him and he could make out the silhouette of a… he suddenly grabbed the image from under the plate and pulled it up to his eyes.

An ape.

Noa quickly stepped up to Raka, handing him the image. A strange sensation bubbled in the pit of his stomach, and he couldn't decide whether it was simply curiosity or excitement at his discovery.

Noa rushed through his signs, alternating the words "why", "how" and "who" as he addressed Raka. The latter was trying to remain calm in the face of Noa's restlessness, and decided to take the picture and turn his back on him, to protect himself from Noa's insistent gaze.

It hadn't taken Noa long to realize that this ape, whoever he was and wherever he was today, was the reason you'd felt such emotion. However, even if he had understood this, new questions piled up in his head and you became more and more mysterious.

"I've never seen such a thing." Raka stated after pondering the question. "Perhaps, the image of a book?" He asked then. "No." Noa suddenly replied, ignoring the wave of pride he'd felt at having found something Raka didn't know about. He resumed in sign language. "Echo was sad. I could see it. In her eyes."

Raka didn't seem convinced and Noa frowned, almost annoyed by the questioning Raka carried in a simple look at him. He pointed at the image, this time using his voice to make himself heard.

"Important." He began. "More than petals."

He paused, studying the image carefully. The ape looked… strong. Even through a simple piece of paper, Noa recognized that this ape was a powerful leader, like his father.

His father. A thought flashed through Noa's mind and he felt as if he'd forgotten why he'd come this far. A feeling of guilt scratched at the back of his mind, accusing him of taking too long to fulfill the promise he'd made to his father, in front of his gravestone. Noa had to close his eyes for a moment to focus again on the here and now.

"The image of a book." Raka persisted. "Books are too old for her to know."

If Raka was right, the emotion you'd expressed no longer made any sense, and Noa wasn't ready to admit that maybe you really didn't make any sense and were just like every echo he'd ever come across.

" You know them. Why not her, too?" Noa signed.

Raka seemed to ponder the issue for a moment before handing the image back to Noa.

"Human complicated. Tough to know what she knows, or doesn't know." Raka said.

Noa sighed, almost defeated. He was right about that, but he couldn't get his mind off the idea that this object was very important to you and knowing it was broken had triggered an emotion in you, and he had, for some reason that was completely obscure to him, an urge to hold on to that emotion. It might be the only way for him to get what he wanted: to get out of here with your horse.

Raka wanted to wait for you to speak. Noa was done waiting. He looked again at the broken object and wood around him. Maybe if he could fix it, you'd listen to him.

➰➰➰➰➰➰

It had taken you all night and most of the morning.

It had to cease. Those two apes had to leave your house and go back to wherever they came from, so you'd never again have to feel the things they'd awakened by their mere presence.

So you headed south. Beyond the river.

You'd gone south because the only way to see them go was for them to get a horse. You had once again strayed from the endless activities of the lists on your wall. But it had to stop. You were convinced of that. Once they were gone, you could go on with your activities. Once they were gone, you'd find again the ease with which you'd let yourself be carried along by time, and you'd no longer be on the verge of falling off the precipice every evening, in front of Caesar's own eyes.

You had returned just as the sun was reaching its highest point in the sky. A rope perfectly tight around the pommel of your saddle and a mare tied to the end of that rope who had stopped struggling to get back to her herd.

She was wild, but the proximity of your horse comforted her, and as you offered her apples to encourage her forward, she eventually gave in enough to follow you obediently without pulling back.

Once you'd reached your clearing, you untied the rope and tied it around your horse's neck, confident that the mare would stick around. She stayed away from you though, not wanting to be touched yet, and you knew it would take some time. However, you could congratulate yourself on the experience you had gained in the art of making a horse docile before you could train it. A few days, at most, and you could teach her to bear a saddle and bridle without biting. A few more days and she'd be ready to carry a human… an ape, on her back.

After removing your horse's saddle, you let him graze and showed the mare around.

Seeing her following your horse with no fuss made you feel as if you'd finally untied a knot too heavy to bear.

Yes, everything was going to be all right.

You sighed with relief and set off to find the two apes you'd left inside your house the day before.

Ignoring the aching and heavy feeling in your eyes, you pushed open your front door to find only an empty room. The previously loaned blankets lay neatly on your table.

The blankets.

Like a light bulb that's just switched on, your eyes darted to the fireplace and then to the blanket left on the floor, pushed to one side, the frame it previously covered vanished.

Your heart leapt into your ribcage to remind you of its existence, and a feeling of sheer panic rushed through your chest.

No, no, no.

They couldn't have done this. They couldn't have taken it away from you.

You rushed outside and before you could set foot on the threshold of your home, a large hand held you firmly in place before you made hard contact with its owner's massive torso.

Your eyes fluttered up to his green ones, and Noa caught his first glimpse of fear in the depths of your irises. He watched you while you no longer seemed to know where you were because of the sudden encounter, and when he saw in your eyes that you were coming back to your senses, he let his hand fall back along his body.

One step back.

You needed to find a space… less shared with his own, and you decided to take another step backwards.

Words tried to form on the tip of your tongue, urging you to ask him what he'd done with your frame, but these words quickly fell into the void of silence as Noa slowly handed you your frame, which he held delicately in his second hand.

You found yourself lacking the words that had rushed to you as your brain tried to put the pieces of the puzzle back together again.

You blinked once.

Then twice.

Then three times.

But no, you weren't dreaming, the broken frame you'd left under your blanket had come back to you in one piece.

Noa felt you were suddenly… overwhelmed. Your usually lifeless gaze seemed to find its way back to life, with a wave of emotion that you were obviously having trouble sorting out in your mind.

So he had seen sadness and fear, and now he saw a tide of relief rising in your eyes until it formed the first drops in the corner of them. But you were like… frozen. You looked at the square object in his hand as if suddenly you had no right to touch it, even though it belonged to you.

And then you looked at him, almost encouraging him to say something before you crumbled.

"Fixed." Noa almost whispered, letting his husky voice trail off as softly as possible, as if he didn't want to break anything inside of you, and he carried on, using his free hand to show himself, almost proud of what he'd just accomplished, silently telling you " me, I fixed it".

You couldn't help but look at him, letting him probe everything that came to your mind, as if to silently thank him for saving you from forgetting. Tears forming beads of rain on the edge of your eyelids, you signed back, revealing your relative knowledge of sign language in the process.

"Thank you."

A tear rolled down your cheek, and the overwhelming emotion you offered Noa gave him enough courage to ask you one of the questions running through his mind.

"The image… who is it?"

Noa felt as if an eternity had just passed in silence as you pondered revealing his name. Did you have to tell him his name?

You gently slid your fingers around the frame, which had regained a youthful shape, and Noa almost felt like holding it back to force you to tell him who this ape was, but he didn't need to, your voice rising in a faint note.

"His name was…" You started, swallowing hard in anticipation of the emotion that awaited you around the corner. "His name was Caesar."

And this was surely the first time, after years and years, that you'd uttered his name to introduce him to someone else.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Tags list:

@callsignwidow

@youdontknowe

@katzykat

@koshi-sama

@violet-19999

@queen-luna-007

@sciencewithottsnpotts

@sparks0918

@moonlightnyx

@analuw

[inbabylontheywept]

The Vengabus is Coming

Alakan pinched the bridge of his nose. On one hand, certain death. On the other hand, human bullshit.

He weighed the options carefully. His self-respect fought tooth and claw with his will to live.

The will to live won. It was a near thing, but internal battles were winner take all.

“Fuck it. We need armor. Send them in.”

---

The radio crackled. It was a quiet sound, but still a welcome reprieve to the blisteringing swarm of beams from the nearby laser gatling. Alakan fished it out of his front pocket, raising it near his ear eagerly.

“Callsign ‘Ape-Mode’, do you copy? What is your ETA? We’re pinned down bad up here, if they can get a second angle set up we’re toast. ”

The speaker crackled again. There was a sound like a horn on the other end. Maybe an alarm?

“Callsign Ape-Mode, is your vehicle intact?”

There was no verbal response back, but a faint chanting could be heard in the background, just beyond the range of his hearing. Alakan cranked the volume knob to max, desperate for any possible information about when the armor would arrive. Instead, he seemed to catch the opening part of some kind of human war ritual.

“We like to party! We like, we like to party! We like to party! We like, we like to party! We like to party! We like-”

Then the radio cut off abruptly.

He took several deep breaths before pinching his nose again.

Fucking humans.

---

The Vengabus is coming! And everybody's jumping! New York to-

The chanting was back, almost incomprehensibly loud. The gatlings were earsplitting on their own, but the human war chant made them seem like whispers in a library. The noise was so loud that identifying the source was almost impossible. It seemed to be coming from all sides at once, a hulking wall of sound. He reached down to shut off his comm only to find it was already off.

Oh. They must be here then. That would explain the unwarranted assault on his earholes. He took a peek over the edge of his foxhole and froze.

Even by the standards of human bullshit, this was egregious.

The tank itself was standard DFP issue. The bright yellow paint job and makeshift stop sign definitely were not. And the speakers looked borderline illegal. Strands of copper wire poked from each of the generator sized boxes strapped, welded, and glued to random points all over the chassis. The conductor feeding each of the abominations seemed to be repurposed twinkle lights, cutting zigzags between each box before drawing into the hatch.

The gatlings stopped, evidently as taken aback as everyone else on the battlefield. The moment of relative peace was replaced by insane furor as every gun on the opposite side of the canyon seemed to realize that there was a big juicy target barreling towards them.

The tank took the swarm of beams like a champion. Faint clouds of yellow smoke trailed behind the racing vehicle as its makeshift paint job was incinerated, but that was probably a blessing in disguise. The wall of noise fell down several notches as one of the gatlings made a point of targeting the ear splitting speakers.

The tank had been content enough to just absorb enemy ammo as it barreled its way to the middle of the battle, but this was a personal affront. The railgun on the top of the vehicle locked on to the offending turret and began dropping ferroslugs. The first was more than enough to obliterate its hated foe, the other three were just to desecrate the memory. Each shot had the unfortunate side effect of distorting the noise coming out of the speakers, the voices going up like chipmunks with every thump of the MAC.

The wheels of steel are turning! And traffic lights are burning! So if you like to party, get on and move your body! The Vengabus is coming!

A kinetic slug slammed into the road just behind it. If the tank had been going anything less than max speed, it would’ve been splattered. Any sane tank operator would’ve launched their smoke cover, changed course, and avoided the slugs by serpentining.

These were not sane tank operators. The hatches for the smoke cover opened, but instead of smoke grenades getting flung from the hydraulic catapult, out flew hundreds and hundreds of gleaming chemlights. The laser gatling atop the main cannon opened fire, not at any enemy, but simply while spinning in circles at maximum speed.

None of this should have done a damn thing, but the effect was amazing. The lights, the noise, and now the laser effects-the enemy had been trained for what to do in a warzone, but they had no fucking idea what to do at a disco. All it took was one of them to break ranks, and the rest followed suit. Alakan watched in awe as the troop of 80 enemy combatants bolted up the far side of the valley, casually pursued by the still smoldering Venga-Tank, chipperly screaming out its war cry as the recording device on the inside hit a well planned loop.

The Vengabus is coming! The Vengabus is coming! The Vengabus is coming! The Vengabus is coming! The Vengabus is coming! The Vengabus is coming!

The noise, blessedly, faded to black as both made it over the hill.

He climbed carefully out of his foxhole, wiping the dirt from his palms onto the front of his pants when he was done. One of the newer soldiers jogged up to him, as baffled as he’d ever been.

“What… What the hell just happened?”

Alakan shrugged.

“Trust me, they don’t know either. Fucking humans.”

[rjzimmerman]

Some photos from the Los Angeles wildfires that have been punching me in the gut.

A man walks past a fire-ravaged business after the Eaton Fire swept through Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Thick heavy smoke from wildfires passes over the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

The Palisades fire approaches the Pacific Ocean along PCH in Malibu, California on Jan. 8, 2025. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The Palisades Fire from a flight arriving at LAX. Photo by Mark Viniello, from the Facebook page of Maggie O'Mara.

A resident is evacuated from a senior center in Altadena, one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the Eaton fire. ETHAN SWOPE/AP

A resident flees with her dog as the Palisades fire rages on. Per the Los Angeles Times, one veterinarian has taken in nearly 40 pets, housing them at an empty old veterinary hospital in nearby Marina del Rey. JON PUTMAN/SOPA IMAGES/SIPA USA/AP

A homeless woman flees from the Palisades fire, pushing a cart filled with her belongings off the Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. WALLY SKALIJ/LOS ANGELES TIMES/GETTY IMAGES

Sunset Boulevard damaged by wildfires. Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

The devastation from the Palisades Fire is seen from the air in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

The devastation from the Palisades Fire is seen from the air in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

A beachfront property is burned by the Palisades Fire on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Horses being rescued from Los Angeles wildfires. PHOTO: . FOX 11 LOS ANGELES/YOUTUBE

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Chetco Monster

Description: In the years preceding 1904, prospectors near Myrtle Point, Oregon reported encountering a wildman they called the Chetco Monster. They described it as bigger than a man and had the strength to shake the entire cabin. The story has many parallels with the Ape Canyon incident.  

[taylorswiftfostersitagain]

christmas was an eventful time! (ps- my secret santa is coming soon sorryyyyyy)

“Too busy exploiting railroad workers.” - Fitz

“Shuffling and bringing an already-cooked turkey back to life are two very different things.” - Keefe

“Buy a bounce house! Whoo! You crazy man!” - Sophie

“I don’t follow rules.” - Mr. Forkle (the rules of telepathy)

“I’m like the IRS of rules.” - Sandor

“We were just talking about your polka music.” - Biana

“Hop on the plane, go to San Antonio.” - Sophie

“We have lots of raspberry Jello. We stock it.” - Dex

“Were you a Legolas cosplayer?” - Sophie

“That’s the spirit, honey. The garage is never big enough.” - Grady (to Edaline)

“He can marry whoever he wants, okay? That’s not the point. The point is, I’m weird.” - Keefe

“I may be playing games, but I’m not playing around.” - Dex

“My job is to inconvenience, mostly.” - Tam

“Maybe they need a graphic designer to make an infographic. Hired by DARPA.” - Biana

“I hear you’re defending my honor.” - Sophie

“How dare you miss someone in this madhouse of people.” - Fitz

“It’s a big break. It’s a chasm. It’s the Grand Canyon!” - Dex

“I guess the backstory is, I hate flamingos.” - Keefe

“Maybe the theme is, it’s okay to be a skeleton.” - Linh

“He’s actually hugging you with a full suit of armor on.” - Sophie

“It’s powered, but not connected to the utility.” - Dex

“I feel like maybe I should’ve paid more attention in AP Chemistry.” - Sophie

“Advanced with a capital N, so there’s some code for you.” - Dex

“I called someone the Burger Meister Meister Burger the other day, and they didn’t get it. I’ve never been more embarrassed.” - Sophie

“Sure enough, for one hundred and forty-nine dollars a night, you can stay at the Hilton in Oman!” - Keefe

“I’m stepping away from the person with the meat fork.” - Biana

“Tam says, no, I’m depressed. I’m going to sit with my toothpick and stare into space.” - Linh

“I was kind of impressed by the technology.” - Fitz

“You’re like an ad for Apple Wallet, spewing credit cards everywhere.” - Sophie

“I’m having an existential crisis, all my teeth are rotting out of my mouth and there’s nothing I can do about it,” - Sophie

“SOMEONE GET THAT CHAIR!” - Sandor

“You people and your raspberries.” - Dex

“No, she kept killing it! She wouldn’t feed it!” - Biana

“I bet you Fitz Vacker loves to paint his nails.” - Dex

“Why do I type like WHAT?” - Sophie

“You can still be the problem today. Don’t limit yourself.” - Keefe

“Like, I slept, but I didn’t sleep.” - Sophie

“My memory’s being insulted.” - Dex

“You little rascal!” - Keefe

“This is where the cool kids are, so you are not allowed.” - Biana

“Well, they don’t call it hot chocolate for nothing.” - Marella

“I know you’re usually on plan B or C, but this, is like, W or something.” - Sandor(to Sophie)

“It’s egregious because you weren’t even looking in the fridge when it was open.” - Grady

[songoftrillium]

NPC Spotlight: Burned Hide

art credit @morggo licensed to use with permission

CW: Animal death, fire, scars, generational trauma beneath the read-more link.

Wolf-Born, Galliard, Athro Older Brother, Master of the Rite

One day, Ape was sitting on the back of a horse, and stopped at the foot of Dume’fa. Ape doesn't know whether to go around her or try to go over her. One asks a nearby wolf,  "Wolf. Does she have a rocky face?" And Wolf says that she does. Ape orders the horse onto her face and gets stuck in her logfall and underbrush. Ape shouts to Wolf, "One said she has a rocky face!" And Wolf says,  "One did, Ape, all mountains have rocks for faces. Keep sinking and one will find it, this one is certain," And Wolf howls for one’s packmates to gather. — Burned Hide

Despite having had no visible likeness to her kin, she was the direct descendant of Rala Blood-Claw, and the last living descendant of any member of Tawatuy. Born the pup of a lone wolf and her two yearling packmates, her siblings and she had spent their early years catching trout and hunting for grouse, deer, rabbits, and elk in the fall, moving farther into the cascades over winter when the canyons and high desert turned bitter and cold. This had traditionally been the time when Younger Brother roamed into the region along with the Northern Paiute and Yahuskin, though times had changed since then. Her story began with the fall of Gulaka’i. Her grandmother, Aleshanee In-The-Sun, had witnessed numerous other garou begin succumbing to the Bitter Rage. Heeding the warnings of Muskrat, she had worked tirelessly to save as many wolves around Gulaka’i during the Snake War and the war of Rogue River as she could. She had eventually been taken by a Bitter Rage in her attempts to save more tribe members. Her once sweet, playful nature had been reduced to a frothing spittle in 1867. She was survived by her kin-pack, which had lived in the canyons just south of what is now Valley Falls, many miles away from Dead Mountain. When those wolves roamed too close to the cattle ranchers near Paisley, many ate poisoned meat and died painful deaths. A pack of yearlings had dined on grouse earlier that morning and had not gone on the hunt, sparing their lives. Those surviving wolves formed a pack with a number of coyotes; and in the spring of 1899, Burned-Hide was born. 

In 1900, Burned Hide's first change, and the first time she'd channel Rala Blood-Claw, occurred simultaneously. A fire had broken out that raged out of control through the canyon and reached the top of the plateau, destroying 75 homes in Lakeview. When the ash began raining down, she tried to locate her pack. Overcoming her own fear, she let her human mind take over, and ran into the fire. The only thing on her mind had been her family and their safety. She ran across hot coals, and through flame, scalding her paws and igniting her fur. Charred, and choking on smoke, she located them sheltering beneath an overturned boulder. 

The smoke was too much and she collapsed. That’s when Rala and she had a whispered communion in a language she was surprised to understand. In their first communion, Rala egged her to her feet, and whispered to her what happened to her Grandmother. To their family’s family, and their families. Rala held out the words and lives of the wolves that came before them, and the wolf, breathless and forgetting her pain, reached out with her heart and caught it in her teeth. 

The wolf transformed into her hispo form, and feeling her breath returning to her, led her family to safety. Even with her newer, stronger wolf form, she nearly succumbed to the heat and the smoke, had she not seen a family of muskrats fleeing northwards. She had followed them, fighting against all wolf instincts and fording the creek all the way to Thaervarmet. Despite wincing when she stretched her scars wrong, they had only served to add to the beauty of her heart, and year after year, she ran with the wolves. In her own words, the scars were marks of pride that showed her family just what they meant to her. Her life as a garou was one that saw her be one of few wolf-born to live to old age. Her springs were spent with her kin back home in the canyons where she was born. Among the creatures found there, they include 11 mexican gray wolves, 7 coywolves, and 10 coyotes all coalesced into an informal family of sorts, all hunting together with multiple kin leading.

Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Charisma 5, Manipulation 3, Composure 2, Intelligence: 3, Wits: 4, Resolve 4 Abilities: Alertness 3, Assbeating 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Empathy 4, Expression 5, Intimidation 2, Primal-Urge 3, Subterfuge 2, Animal Ken 4, Leadership 4, Melee 2, Performance 3, Stealth 2, Survival 3, Enigmas 2, Forestry 3, Investigation 2, Linguistics 3, Medicine 1, Nation Lore 5, Occult 4, Politics 3, Rituals 4 Gifts: Prey Mind, Beast Speech, Master of Fire, Uncloak the Hidden, Coyote Howl, Scent of Sight, Oaksong, Lore of the Land, Hand of the Earth Lords, Spirit’s Horse, Whisper in the Dark, Catfeet, Distractions, Song of Heroes Rage: 4 Gnosis: 9(3) Willpower: 6 Fluster: 2

Backgrounds: Animism 5 (Champion), Patron 12 (Muskrat 7, Dume’fa 5), Kinfolk 3, Allies 3

Rites: Any Needed Maneuvers: Evasion

Equipment: Medicine bag, Awakened Tarweed Seeds, Awakened Juniper Berries, Awakened Trillium Seeds

Appearance: True to her name, Burned Hide is heavily disfigured, with the majority of her body a lattice patchwork of only partially-healed burn scars covering over 75% of her body. This include some of her eyes, which appears to be blind,doesn’t focus and is constantly weeping tears. Despite this, the shaggy cheek tufts and leaner build present her as a Mexican Gray Wolf, bearing no resemblance to her historic relation. Her expressive eyes are the color of dark juniper bark. Despite her scars, the way she carries herself gives her a sort of Wyld quality that is strangely beautiful, and all conducted beneath a veneer of self-control that belies her passion for expression.

Roleplay Tips: You are bold and unapologetically passionate. You carry the weight of Tawatuy on your shoulders and love in your heart, and become irritable when you’re not feeling heard. Your frequent communion with Rala has instilled in you a deeply-critical view of leadership, and there have been numerous times where you have handed the wheel over to Rala Blood-Claw herself, in a manner of speaking, unleashing a rancorous warrior when you do. You believe she was the true voice of reason in the face of Voruk’ny’ket, and you being the sole descendant of Tawatuy are living proof of that. Your duties to Gulaka’i that pull you away from here are also one of your biggest fears; that you won't be able to keep this family safe. You would give your life to save Gulaka’i, but only if you know your family will be saved. When near the hearts of septs, or in late spring, you are always shaking your head, for all the butterflies that land on your face drink your tears away. Your hidden strength is your Animism. The ability to channel and use up to 5 dice will grant you a base dice pool of 11 in homid form. This could have you, true to Rala Blood-Claw’s form, go toe to toe with Legends and hold her own. That hidden power gives you confidence, despite being small and 76 years old. You’d be a legend in your own right, did you not have Rala’s habit of mouthing off to whoever is in charge.

[bettergeology]

Keeping an eye out

Mount St. Helens is the most active volcano in the Cascades. It's major eruption in 1980 has been succeeded by about 10 other smaller eruptions and maintains near-constant microseismicity. The first pictures show one of the close-in monitoring stations at Windy Ridge. The USGS Cascade Volcano Observatory maintains a number of large monitoring stations close to the mountain, near the vent, where they've been armored to protect from eruptive activity. These stations typically include a seismometer (seismogram here), a GPS station (the white dome), and other equipment like geophones or a webcam. Volcanoes never erupt spontaneously, they are always preceded by some kind of activity - usually small earthquakes - and let you know when they're ready to go. St. Helens hasn't done anything since about 2010, taking a well-deserved rest after the major lava dome growth in 2004-2008.

Around the mountain to the southeast, you can hike through the Plains of Abraham's pumice fields and past the slot-canyon head of Ape Canyon to the rim of the Muddy River, where another monitoring station reports seismicity and GPS data. The GPS stations observe the shape of the volcano over time. As gas, fluids, and magma move around inside the mountain, the surface deforms. Rapid or dramatic deformation is often indicative of impending eruption or other activity, and is one of the most important parameters in the volcanologists' arsenal.

[gingersnaptaff]

percival/peredur for the ask meme <3

Hi, Cain!!! Ooh, my beloved Peredur bach, yessssss!!!!!!

favorite thing about them

How sweet he is. I wouldn't necessarily call him naive when he first encounters Owain and Gwalchmai but I think u can kinda see him begin to realise that there's more to life than what his mam sort of thinks he needs to know. Plus he's not afraid to stand up for himself especially when Cai tries to be a twat. I think he's also very caring towards others and also him giving Cai a broken arm? Look, not to laugh at his pain but my god, Cai, u deserved it. Plus he's legit like unbelievable in fights. Crazy!!!! Snsjssjsj.

least favorite thing about them

Nothing. He's never done anything wrong in his life.

favorite line

Every time Peredur calls Cai 'tall man' I feel a little better about the state of the world. I don't think he ever refers to Cai by name and it's like, augh, even Peredur ap Efrawg isn't immune to being a hater sometimes.

brOTP

Him and Owain!!!! I bet they're besties and it's so important to me that Owain is one of the two knights Peredur encounters first. Like if it had been Cai I would've been majorly concerned but Owain is like super patient with him when he's like 'What are all these things?'

OTP

For me? Gwalchmai. I keep banging on but they F U C K E D in that tent. And also he's genuinely so concerned for Peredur it makes me unhinged.

nOTP

Peredur and rudeness. Peredur and people thinking he's dumb. Peredur and rudeness. I hate it when people are like he's a country bumpkin he's dumb, he's stupid. Nowhere does it say that in the text!!! 😠😠😠😠

random headcanon

He is powered by 90% spite, I firmly believe this. He can and will do anything he's set his mind to, and, by God, he'll do it while both dragging his heels and calling his foe any name under the sun. I am basing that on his interactions with Cai. He is also the sweetest guy alive and gives his besties little shiny gifts like he's a magpie. Plus, I believe he and his cousin Angharad meet up once a year to gossip.

unpopular opinion

For me, I think the story of Peredur came first and Chrietien based Perceval on that. Idk. To me, that just seems more plausible. It's a barebones kinda first draft thing and Chrietien fleshed it out and included The Grail.

song i associate with them (maybe) (depends on the character)

'Peredur' by Tom Emlyn! Plus, I also think 'Canyon Moon' by Harry Styles works for him. I think it's because of the refrain of 'I'm going home.' Like he's going on adventures but ultimately when he returns home to Arthur's court it's like 'Oh, I've sort of found my place.'

favorite picture of them

Right, it's not of them specifically but it's of scene from the myth purely because IT'S A FUCKIN TAPESTRY!!!! SOMEBODY MADE THIS!!!!! EVERYBODY SAY THANK U, MARTIN WEATHERHEAD. It's GORGEOUS. IT MUST'VE TAKEN HOURS!!!!!!! SNSJSJSSJSJS.

[The text says: 'Peredur a welodd yan oedd dafad wen yn brefu: croesai dafad ddu yr afon gan newid i fod yn wyn' in Welsh, and, in English, 'Peredur saw that when a white sheep bleated a black sheep crossed the river and became white.']

[bearterritory]

New Cast Propels Cal To Opening Wins

Ten Bears Debut in 86-73 Win Against CSUB

Cal Pulls Away for 91-73 Victory Over Cal Poly

BERKELEY (AP) – Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 17 points, Andrej Stojakovic added 16 for California on Monday night and the new-look Golden Bears beat Cal State Bakersfield 86-73 in the season opener for both teams at Haas Pavilion.   Ten first-year Golden Bears – nine transfers and one freshman – saw the floor within the first eight minutes of the contest and five of them reached double-figure points, including BJ Omot (13), DJ Campbell (12) and Mady Sissoko (10) along with Blacksher and Stojakovic.   "Every one of the 10 (players) went in there and contributed to winning," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. "This was a tremendous team effort tonight."   Jemel Jones led Cal State Bakersfield with 22 points, Corey Stephenson scored 17 and Marvin McGhee III had 13. Shakir McGhee III grabbed 10 rebounds to go with nine points.   Jones made a jumper that capped a 9-3 spurt and trimmed CSUB's deficit to 78-71 with 59 seconds to play but Stojakovic, a Stanford transfer, Blacksher, a graduate transfer from Grand Canyon, and Campbell each made 2 of 2 from the free-throw line from there to seal it. Cal made 31 of 40 free throw attempts Monday night, its most makes and attempts in a single game since going 31 of 43 against Portland State on Dec. 21, 2017.   Minnesota transfer Joshua Ola-Joseph threw down a dunk that made it 9-8 with 14:22 left in the first half and the Bears led the rest of the way.   A dunk by Fidelis Okereke trimmed Bakersfield's deficit to 32-26 with 3:38 left in the first half but Blacksher answered with a 3-pointer and then a layup to give Cal an 11-point lead a minute later. He and Omot then hit back-to-back 3s to close the first half and make it 46-28.

California 91, Cal Poly 73

BERKELEY (AP) – In their second game this week, the Golden Bears erased an early double-digit lead and defeated Cal Poly 91-73 on Tuesday night to improve to 2-0 for their season.   Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the second half and Andrej Stojakovic added 15. Blacksher hit four 3-pointers and the Golden Bears (2-0) went 11 of 26 from the arc. Rytis Petraitis scored 13 points off the bench and BJ Omot had 10. Lee Dort grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points.   Leading by four at halftime, Cal opened the second half with three consecutive 3-pointers – two from Omot and one from Stojakovic – for a double-digit lead. The margin was 14 before Cal's bench provided all the points in an 11-0 run midway through the half. The Mustangs got within 12 with four minutes left but no closer.   The Mustangs hit five 3-pointers – including two from Jarred Hyder, a 2023 Cal alumnus who played three seasons for the Bears between 2020-23 – in the first six minutes of the game in taking a 12-point lead. Cal responded with 3s by Blacksher and Christian Tucker and eventually took the lead during a 13-2 run that included three consecutive 3s. The Bears led by as many as nine before going in the half ahead 39-35.   Issac Jessup hit 5 of 9 3-point attempts and finished with 20 points to lead Cal Poly before fouling out. Owen Koonce added 11 points. The Mustangs made 10 of 26 3-point tries but gave up 18 turnovers, leading to 29 Cal points.

UP NEXT Cal hits the road for the first time to face Vanderbilt next Wednesday. Tipoff at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville is at 5 p.m. PT and the contest will be televised on SEC Network+. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.

[freeflowhighway]

Howdy.

You like fanfiction? You like Dragon Ball? Why don'tcha check this preview out. I think you'll like it.

When you're done and want more? Check out the link at the end, thanks pookie. You're the best.

Konohagakure, the Hidden Leaf Village, was under attack. The Kyūbi: Nine-Tailed Fox, appeared over a full moon night to bring terror and destruction to all within the village. A creature of such might and power that one swing of its tail could flatten a mountain to the base, would be met with an equal in the Fourth Hokage. Riding the Great Toad Gamabunta, the Yellow Flash defended his land with his life, meeting the King of Demons in the outskirts of his homeland.

However, something went awry.

A third party, a beast never seen, would unleash untold mayhem. It did the impossible, not just forcing back Gamabunta and his Shinobi God companion, but it focused its hatred entirely onto the Nine-Tailed Fox. A gigantic ape tall as Hokage Rock and nearly as broad, thick arms and legs of bulging muscles barely hidden by its black fur, and a monkey's tail that whips hurricane winds with every swing. This new Bijū of only one tail fought with its fellow demon, their devastating forces clashing against one another so fiercely that the very ground beneath them surrounding all Konohagakure shook, creating craters and canyons in the dense forests. The clouds above thickened greatly before terrible winds cleared the sky.

Though even in destructive power, the Great Ape proved superior in durability, barely struggling against the most powerful of the Bijū's wrath. Its tails bounce off of the Great Ape's body, claws and fangs draw blood yet only go skin deep, even the Bijū Bomb is matched by the shaft of light flying from the Great Ape's maw. Through sheer endurance, the Great Ape outlasted and damaged the Nine-Tailed Fox enough that the Fourth Hokage was able to seal it in one fell swoop. However, the Great Ape itself was nigh unstoppable. Without an opponent to distract it from the village itself, hope seemed lost as countless lives were taken away, shinobi of every clan work together to even stall the unstoppable beast.

The Hyūga Clan, renowned for their kekkai genkai: the Byakugan, were rendered useless. Their dōjutsu being the All-Seeing Eye are blinded by the sheer intensity of the Great Ape's aura. Those not fast enough to undo their ability in time suffered from sensory overload.

The Inazuka Clan, shinobi with close ties to beasts as well as mankind's connection to their primal roots, are stunned frozen by their nature. Not all, but many suffer a paralyzing fear that prey suffers from when in the gaze of a predator, especially one never before seen.

The Aburame Clan, infamous yet humble for their compact with insects, creatures often underestimated despite their uncontested control over the world. Without them, nature would not function, and in turn they could rule the world should they act as mankind has, yet even their unorthodox methods and bizarre abilities are naught but worthless before the otherworldly might of the Great Ape.

Even the greatest strategists within the Nara Clan, the gigantic might of the Akimichi Clan, nor even the mind-altering phantasmic power of the Yamanaka Clan could falter the beast. It would force its way through the traps, break the towering giants that stood in its way, and none could manipulate a mind so forcefully set on its singular goal of destruction.

Finally, the Uchiha Clan act as the last line of defense. Though all suffered, it is through the efforts of the noble Uchiha Clan that many civilians are spared, at the cost of many of their own. The Sharingan was ineffective against the beast itself, but absolutely necessary in their impeccable defense and evasion, distracting the Great Ape for as long as they could until the Fourth Hokage could face it personally at last.

Konohagakure was fated to fall until the coming dawn. By chance or by fate, the two deities fought long enough for the moon fall low and sunlight broke across the sky, which upon that most desperate hour would mark the end of disaster. The Great Ape vanished without a trace...

But not without taking one last cruel victory.

With the weight of the world and even that from beyond now off of his shoulders, the Fourth Hokage succumbed to his wounds in the tireless battle and being as young as he was left behind no candidate nor heir to his title. With little choice, Hiruzen Sarutobi would return from his retirement, taking on the mantle as Third Hokage once more. Though an ultimately tragic event, hope remains within the hearts of Konohagakure.

Peace has returned.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49701808/chapters/125855470

[thecreaturecodex]

One specific question, one general one.

The specific - What's a good monster, related to plants, undead, or both, to use when representing something that, let's say, fell from the sky, crashed in a lumber yard, and when a usually cold-hearted, fearless boss comes to investigate, it scares him so much for the rest of his life that he tells nobody and immediately abandons the camp? Something that's terrifying, but something that wouldn't just kill him outright. I wanna introduce a bit of terror to my party since in-game, it's coming close to the equivalent of the Halloween season.

The more general (and maybe more important one) - How do you manage your own disparate ideas into a more cohesive homebrew storyline? I've got a lot of ideas and themes but I'm realizing my choice paralysis and desire to do something cool for my players is hindering me in tying together themes to make something that will actually be in service to the players fun.

Big fan for actual years, btw. You're one of the best homebrew writers and a vital part of our group's games in Red Hand, Shackled City, and eventually Age of Worms. Thank you for your work.

Thank you so much for your kind words!

Now, for your first question, I do have a fair amount of plants from space in the Codex, since it's a popular SF trope. The hyphal brain, vegalpree or beula could all serve the role you have in mind.

For the second, well, I'd say don't be afraid to be self-indulgent. Not every idea needs to tie into a Big Theme, and the players, if they're bought in, might end up supplying some of the linkages for you. Probably the best homebrew game I've ever run was Sharn Freelance Police, which was a D&D 3.5 game set in Eberron, where the PCs were detectives. It was intended to be a case of the week investigative game, and by the end of it had all sorts of recurring plots, villains and an overarching theme. By the end, it was about the arms dealing House Cannith working with the Order of the Emerald Claw in order to cause a civil war in Kaarnath, ending with Vol coming out of the shadows to claim the throne and start openly engaging in eugenics. But that plot wasn't in every session, and a lot of the cases they took were random one-offs that tied into stuff I had on hand or things I was into. There was a session that was a parody of Sweeney Todd, but it turned out it was dire rats being baked into pies when they thought it was people. There was a scientist interested in monsters who consulted on cases about aberrations and symbionts, who ended up using what he got from the Freelance Police to mutate himself and try his hand at supervillainy. There was even an arc where one of the characters died, came back as the undead, and didn't tell anyone for a couple of weeks. And despite the big mishmash of tones and themes, everyone had a great time, and that game and its characters are still remembered fondly almost 20 years later.

And looking at those APs you mentioned, they also kind of go all over the place. Age of Worms, for example. Telling the story of discovering and fighting against the cult of a undead-themed demigod doesn't need to have a tournament arc, or a fancy dinner party in a palace full of sideshow performers, or a canyon where giants breed carrion crawlers to make siege weapon ammo... but all of that makes the game a lot of fun.

[bigfootbeat]

Early Non-Native Accounts of Bigfoot in North America

There are many accounts of Native American encounters with Bigfoot recorded in history. However, European settlers and their descendants also had Bigfoot experiences. Here are some that occurred before the Bigfoot craze in the 1950s popularized the idea.

A white woman named Rachel Plummer, who was taken captive by a Comanche raiding band in Texas in the year 1836, is credited with making one of the earliest and most prominent references to Bigfoot by a non-Native American. After the Comanche set Plummer free in 1838, she wrote and published a narrative detailing her traumatic experience as a captive. She went into enormous detail about the creatures that lived in the prairies, in addition to providing specifics about their everyday lives and the roles that men, women, and children had in their lives. Among these animals were wolf packs, bears, elk, and even what her captors referred to as "man-tigers."

According to what she reported, "The Indians claim that they have discovered several of them in the mountains." They say, "They describe them as having the characteristics and proportions of a man." People report that they walk upright and stand between eight and nine feet tall. It was not until nearly a century later that five gold prospectors in Oregon documented the existence of a beast that was very similar to the one described. The men, venturing into the wilderness in 1924, claimed that an "ape man" had accosted one of their party members, Fred Beck, earlier that day, and had shot the creature, inflicting injuries as he fled. Later that night, a larger group of these animals battered the prospectors' hut with rocks and boulders. The men were certain that they were exacting their vengeance for the previous shooting that had taken place. The animals attempted to smash down the door of the cabin, but fortunately, the guys were able to delay their progress.

As soon as the sun began to rise, the apemen fled, and the five terrified prospectors made their way to the closest settlement. It was believed to such an extent that the United States Forest Service initiated an investigation and dispatched two rangers back into the forest with Beck to see if they could find any evidence of the beasts or even the beasts themselves. Despite the lack of evidence, the story quickly spread throughout the Western region, leading to the continued use of Ape Canyon as the name of the alleged attack site. Buffalo Bill and Daniel Boone, two of the most famous frontier folk heroes in the United States, have legends about Bigfoot in their backs. The Pawnee Indians of the Plains presented Buffalo Bill with a gigantic thigh bone as a gift, as described in his book, The Life of Honorable William F. Cody. Buffalo Bill also mentions this experience. According to their assertions, the bone belonged to "a race of man... whose size was approximately three times that of an ordinary man."

Daniel Boone's account went one step further when he told a story about how he shot and killed a "hairy giant" that was ten feet tall in Kentucky. He referred to the beast as a "Yahoo," which is a reference to the brutes that resembled humans that appeared in Jonathan Swift's classic novel Gulliver's Travels. As a result of the 1950s discovery of footprints in Bluff Creek, California, the search for Bigfoot experienced a surge in popularity. These tracks were believed to be the creature's. In the hopes of discovering some evidence that Bigfoot does in fact exist, a large number of people, including cryptozoologists, scientists, adventurers, and other Bigfoot fans, traveled to various regions in the state of Washington and Northern California. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, people maintained their belief in the existence of a hominid that had been absent from human history for a significant period.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the Associated Press (AP):

The Navajo Nation has approved emergency legislation meant to strengthen a tribal law that regulates the transportation of radioactive material across the largest Native American reservation in the U.S.

The move is in response to the revival of a uranium mining operation just south of the Grand Canyon that has drawn much criticism from environmentalists and Native American tribes in the region.

Navajo President Buu Nygren signed the legislation Thursday as talks continue among tribal officials and Energy Fuels Inc. to craft an agreement that would address concerns about any potential risks to the public or the environment.

The updated law calls for more advance notification of plans to ship uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine in northern Arizona to a mill in Utah. The payment of transport fees and the filing of emergency preparedness plans also are among the mandates.

The tribe in 2005 banned uranium mining across the sprawling reservation, pointing to the painful legacy of contamination, illness and death that was left behind by the extraction of nearly 30 millions tons of the ore during World War II and the Cold War.

Despite that ban, tribal lawmakers in 2012 stopped short of prohibiting the transportation of uranium across Navajo lands. Instead, they declared the tribe’s general opposition to moving ore across tribal lands and adopted regulations to protect human health and the environment by requiring notification and financial assurance, among other things.

Navajo leaders said it was time to strengthen that law and require earlier notification of shipments by Energy Fuels as the company ramps up operations.

Nygren said notification under the existing law didn’t happen when Energy Fuels shipped its first two loads of ore in July and his efforts to have tribal police intercept the semi-trucks were too late.

“The purpose of this legislation is to provide for the protection, health and safety of the Navajo Nation and its people and our precious resources such as our water,” he said in a letter thanking lawmakers for prioritizing the issue.