#Great Big Rolling Railroad

[bloodyshadow1]

I hate the people who say the final battle in Ragenarok was too easy. It wasn't easy, it was a hard battle, but the Bad Kids/Intrepid Heroes did everything right.

There were 8 combatants on the field at the start. 6 of the rat grinders, who had low health but the high level abilities of their classes, and 1 high level full PC, and 1 high level paladin/barbarian multiclass with resistance to everything, legendary actions and resistances, who could deal force damage.

On the Bad Kids side, they were level 14 who had just gone through a battle that exhausted a lot of resources, Fig and Fabian used a couple of spells and bardics and their limited amount of spells, Gorgug used a couple of his rages, Adaine used all of her portents and a bunch of spells, and between ice feast, healing, and removing levels of exhaustion, Kristen and K2 were love on spells. Riz was the only one who was looking pretty decent because he can use sneak attack all day, and even he used one of his 2 3rd level spells.

They were smart though, they Ice Feast was a broken ability for the final battle that Brennan didn't think through when he home brewed it for Ally. Not only did it block Porter's stun which would have been devastating, it made them immune to fire damage on a map with a lot of lava. He didn't think it through and the Intrepid Heroes used it to full effect. Still, it was good for them, but Ice Feast is still just a reskin of Heroes feast with better options but more detrimental effects.

As for the battle itself, the Bad Kids played it smart, it was only due to good initiative rolls that they managed to stomp the rat grinders so hard in the first round. If Oisin got a chance to go, if Mary Ann was outside the range of slow, things would have been different since they had low stats, but level 20 abilities and spells could have wreaked the Bad Kids. It wasn't an easy fight, but it was a fight with an intentional purpose, the Bad Kids are good at being adventurers while the Rat Grinders took the easy way out and showed the different between being powerful and being strong. They took out the primary caster first as you should do in big pc vs pc battles like this, they made sure to target groupings of enemies with AOEs and crowd control, they made sure to support each other and disrupt their enemies support. It wasn't easy, but they are good at dnd so they made it look easy.

I've seen people say, 'Brennan should have x' and no he shouldn't have. He created a hard combat encounter, but his players did everything right this season, a DM shouldn't punish or railroad their players just because their players are good at the game. No, the players stop the big bad from being released so they don't have to fight them, the DM shouldn't just make the Ancient God break through the bindings just because they planned for that encounter. The players won before it started and they should be rewarded for that.

'the rat grinders should have had a back up plan.' The Rat Grinders did have a backup plan. The initial plan to get Kipperlily fairly elected failed, and the back up plan, when that didn't work, the backup plan was to get Kristen expelled so she couldn't run. When that didn't work they sent the Bad Kids, their allies, and anyone who would vote for Kristen into the sky, flew them miles away, and sicced a horde of dragons and a goddess on them to kill them or at the very least get them out of their hair for 1 night so their plan could work. The Bad Kids beat their plans every time so no, there was no reason to have a 4th backup plan in the final battle. Brennan is a good DM, he didn't make the Rat Grinders and Porter's plan work because it was stopped before it started with the fake goddess name. He didn't punish his players for being good at the game and their strategy is great.

Things could have gone so differently with a slight change or a big change. If Fig didnt' decide to try and be a paladin on a whim, things would have been completely different, they wouldn't have had a connection with Ankarna. If Adaine didn't take Legend Lore they wouldn't have found out about Porter, maybe they would have still gotten the background on Ankarna, but not about his family revealing the Big Bad early on. If they chose to do something else with the power they got from the pride armor, they wouldnt' have the gem to free Bakur or save Lydia meaning no back up in the final fight. What if Gorgug rolled lower on one of his artificer tracks, they might not have passed the last stand. What if Fabian choose to keep pursing Ivy instead of Mazey, would have have been killed by the Rat Grinders or would Mazey have been compelled to their side if he didn't try and romance her. If Riz ran for president instead of Kristen would he have been less stressed or more inclined to focus on that instead of mystery his true love. What if Kristen didn't eat the eye of the Vulture king at the right time and catch Kipperlily about to murder Gavin forcing her to change her target to Buddy.

And it worked against them too. What If Fig didn't inspire Cassandra and knock her out leading her to become the Nightmare King again? What if Adaine didn't counterspell Grix's disintegrate on Ruben, he might have been a pile of dust that would have been hard to impossible to bring back to life disrupting the Rat Grinder's plan. What if Kristen decided to not get upset at Cassandra forcing the Goddess to recreate Kalina. What if Adaine didn't say Ankarna's name outloud the first time she saw it? What if Fig didn't make the deal to have a second chance sealing the Night Yorb? What if Riz and Gorgug did relationship tracks with their families making it harder to do their other tracks. What if Fabian cleaned his house even once and got rid of the pingpong balls that Oisin enchanted to screw them over. What if Riz had time to focus on mystery from the start instead of running Kristen's campaign for her and taking more stress.

There were so many times that things could have gone so much better or so much worse, but that's what the game is. There is no script that says the good guys have to keep losing until they win. It's decisions and dice, luck and wits that make the game. It was a very hard season, the battles were very hard, just because they made the right decisions to make things easier on themselves doesn't change that. It doesn't make the season bad. You're welcome to not like it, but nothing about it was easy and people shouldn't pretend like it was because they don't like it

[huskynotwolf]

Convexian Hitman AU

Part 1 I guess

AU by @tibbycaps/ @tibby-art

Written by @thecrazyhusky

(I mixed in dsmp, it’s more fun with those swearing idiots :D )

Mission: Find and destroy target’s weapon supply (target’s name is Tubbo and Jack Manifold)

Cub’s PoV

“I want you to destroy his weapons.” Doc looked at us, dead serious.

We (me and Scar) were in the NHO’s conference room, listening to Bdubs rant about this new case we had to deal with. Scar had already yawned at least two times and I had grabbed every single one of their cans of carbonated drinks or whatever at the table and shook them so hard they looked like ticking bombs. Etho was also eyeing us with much suspicion, and I suspected he was up to something.

“All of them?” I asked.

“All of them.” The goat-creeper confirmed. “He was some sort of former president of a country. He’s got some ass-load of explosives. Specifically, bombs. Lots of those.”

“Ah.” Scar smiled. “Big boom.”

“Really?” I looked at him.

“And here are the conditions, since you three are definitely gonna loophole out of this.” Doc growled.

“You have to get this done by this week, which is three days. No eating anyone, and I mean anyone. You find those explosives, disable them, then leave. Nothing else. I don’t want those Snowchester people come fighting with nukes.”

I raised an eyebrow. “They got nukes?”

Scar sniggered. I kicked him.

Doc glared at my fellow Vex. “And bring Grian. He’ll be of use.”

“Grian? You sure?” I asked.

“Yes.” Doc grunted. “And you better get the job done. Go. Now.” He said.

I nodded, grabbed Scar’s wrist and dragged him out of the conference room, heading down to Grian’s “office”, while hearing Bdubs and Beef screech loudly along to the sounds of soda exploding. I allowed myself a slight smile.

“Dang it. Should’ve rigged ‘em better.” I said.

Scar gave me a look. “Don’t tell me you shook all of them.”

“I did. But I could’ve just fitted them with grenades instead.” I replied, taking a left turn down the hallway.

We found her studying a file about Tubbo.

“Hey.” She greeted us, not looking up.

“Hiya. You ready?” I asked.

Since Grian has her Watcher powers, she could technically see us coming, so I assumed she was already prepared.

“Let’s just go. Tango yelled at me earlier. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.” She stood up, then walked towards us.

“Tango? Why?” Scar asked.

“None of your concern.” She shrugged.

We headed out the door, taking the lift down, then exiting the building. As soon as we stepped out, Grian winced.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Y-yeah,” she replied. “It’s just…overwhelming.”

“Hmm.” I shot a glance at Scar. “Scar, you got the map? Coords, at least?”

“Ask the all-seeing.” He pointed at Grian. Grian made a low growling sound.

“Wow, I though you prepped.” She muttered under her breath.

“Yes, I have the map. It’s in my head.” She raised her voice.

“Great!” Scar smiled. “Let’s go, then.”

I leaned closer to Grian. “You okay, dude?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s fine. Everything’s…” she exhaled. “Alright.”

“Good.” I said, then secretly kicked Scar. The man glared at me but I didn’t reply.

“Let’s go.”

***

“We gonna take a subway. Then a cross-country train. Then another high-speed railroad.” I said, laying down a drawn map.

“Snowchester’s all the way out there, so we probably need to either stop to eat on the way, or we have to bring food.” I rolled up the map and shoved it in my pack.

Scar rolled his eyes. “You’re concerned about eating?”

“Grian needs to eat as well.” I hissed.

I had shoved the three of us into a Seven Eleven’s, where my reason was, “we need substance.”

Grian nudged Scar. “Here’s the thing, bud. We don’t have money. How-“

I waved a five dollar bill I snatched from someone. “Steal.”

“Did you get his whole wallet?” Scar asked, his eyes glinting mischievously.

I gave a low chuckle. “Duh I did.” I held out the stolen wallet. Scar sniggered. “This guy’s got a hundred and fifty.”

Grian gave us a look of annoyance and frustration. “You know it’s illegal to steal, right?”

Scar materialised behind her, making her jump. “Nah. It’s fine.”

Grian narrowed his eyes at him but didn’t snap back a comment.

I handed Scar about thirty dollars worth of bills. “Grian, you can go with Scar to buy food.” She shot me a dirty look, got up and disappeared behind the aisles with the Vex.

I took out twenty and nabbed a sandwich and two bottles of water, in which to avoid getting yelled at by Grian, I payed for it instead of stealing it.

Though I will admit I stole a can of Sprite.

Yeah. Maybe.

Grian bought coffee and milk tea (where did she find that?) and Scar bought a bun and bottled Cola, though I could tell he didn’t intend to drink it, he’s just gonna prank me with it.

As we left that store, I searched for enough money to get us to the subway station. Six dollars to get in, then they needed eighteen. I decided not to give them the coins and bills yet, as Scar had a tendency to lose things.

Very, very often.

We headed to the subway station, while Grian kept cautiously looking around for signs of danger. However, despite this, Scar seemed extremely carefree.

“G, man, there’s nothing to worry ‘bout. It’s not like someone would just suddenly drop down and try and kill us, right?” He said to no one in particular.

“Don’t jinx it.” She huffed. “I see something. Though I can’t pinpoint where it is.”

I approached the subway tunnel, with the two nitwits trailing behind. “Yeah, something’s definitely wrong. I can feel it.”

I stepped down the stair, then halted when something whizzed past me and embedded itself into the wall with a thunk.

“Honestly, Foolish, how bad can your aim be!” I heard a yell. The three of us swivelled our heads towards the noise, and standing on the side of the street, armed with crossbows, were two deranged-looking people. At least that’s what the first word that came to my head when I saw them.

The one who shot the projectile, Foolish, looked suspiciously like a totem of undying, and it made me question whenever he’s an actual totem or not. His friend was a girl who wore dark sunglasses and had long streaks of hair running down both sides of her head. What she wore screamed pirate in every way.

Grian sighed. “Scar, you jinxed it.”

Scar glared at her. “No I didn’t!”

I slapped Scar before he could argue any further and hissed, “don’t make the situation worse, dumbass!” and marched towards the pair with crossbows. Scar gave me an offended look but I knew he was playing around for fun.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

Foolish looked at me. “You don’t have the authority to order me around.” He said.

“You just tried to kill me. Are you hitmen?” I snapped.

His friend glared at me. “You were trying to destroy our military.”

Grian and Scar came up from behind. “What do you know about that?” Grian challenged.

“I know for a fact that you were sent to destroy our nukes. We’re from Snowchester, mind you.” The girl growled.

Grian suddenly looked like he was lost in thought. Scar stared at her, then shook her to try snap her out of her trance, but did nothing except from earning a well-deserved smack in the face by her.

“Well, we don’t really care about who sent you. This is about our country’s safety. You back off, or we’ll make you.” Sunglasses Girl said, raising her crossbow.

I processed her words, then turned to Scar. “Wait, if we die, is our contract technically broken?”

He paused. “Wait…you know what? You’re right! We can just let ‘em kill us!”

“But do we like, reincarnate or something? What do you think we’d be-“

Sunglasses Girl facepalmed. “No-that’s not what I meant! I don’t want anyone dead!”

Foolish nudged her. “Whatever, Puffy. They’re not part of our nation.”

Grian shook her head. “You have your own problems. Deal with whoever the fuck Dream is first, then come back and kill us. Besides, Tubbo is a literal threat to society.” She said. “You shouldn’t be listening to that menace.”

Puffy, aka Sunglasses Girl, looked promptly taken aback by Grian’s comment. “How do you know about Dream?”

“Can we take this conversation somewhere else? We’re attracting quite a lot of unwanted attention.” Grian interrupted. “One dude who passed by thought you were a terrorist.”

Foolish and Puffy took a while to discuss, and as soon as they took their eyes off the us and Grian, I took out the stolen can of Sprite, shook it hard, opened it (but barely) then yeeted it at Foolish. It landed on the ground and the entire can burst like a grenade, spewing soda everywhere.

We bolted for it, making a beeline for the subway station, with Scar mainly being dragged all the way. By the time the pair from Snowchester realised what’s happening, we were already down the subway and had managed to get into the train already.

“Ok, that was…awkward.” Grian panted, slightly out of breath.

I grunted. “Whatever. You shouldn’t have told them about your powers.”

She shook her head. “I…sorry.” She muttered.

“Eh. We could go back and kill them both.” I shrugged.

Scar nodded. “Actually, yeah. I would love to do that.”

Grian paled. “No you don’t!” She cried. “Why must you always kill people left and right?”

Both of us Vexes turned their piercing gaze at her. She immediately shut up and sank into the seat.

“Can I kill Tubbo?” Scar asked.

“No,” Grian and I said almost simultaneously. I gave her a look but she said nothing.

“Aww.” He huffed. “I’m bored.”

“You won’t be when we reach the border.” Grian said.

“What?” I asked. “Are you talking about…the border between the city and Greater Dream SMP or whatever that place is called?”

She nodded. “You know we don’t have our IDs or passports. It’s gonna be a wild chase with the border guards there.”

“Ooo, what do they do?” Scat asked.

Grian groaned. “They would chase you down on horses and they never stop. Literally, they could hunt you continuously for days without stopping.”

“Sounds fun,” Scar said.

Grian bit her lip to prevent herself from snapping back at him.

I looked at her. “Listen, if you know about the border guards, do you think we can get past them?”

She nodded. “You can get past them, but it’s gonna be hard.”

I gave both of them a wide smile. “Alright. We have two hitmen on our trail, we don’t have IDs of any sort and we’re about to be chased down by a few border guards. What’s the worse that could happen?”

To be continued

(I did it on another platform and then tried to paste it on Tumblr but ended up with so much lag I can’t even type properly lol)

[jq37]

I'm like genuinely interested as someone who thinks a lot about the craft of critique and fandoms the ways in which the current Rat Grinders discourse shows why you can't really apply the same lens you use to critique a pre written story vs an improvised actual play show by a bunch of comedians who are first and foremost concerned with committing to the bit. Like Porter's a great example of this, he went from a nothingburher to secretly evil with a whole lore and backstory!

In the same vein the Rat Grinders probably could have turned out to be not as culpable in all of this had the Bad Kids really tried to bond with them, but instead they focused on other things with the way downtime was structured! And because they did that they could pass the Last Stand, and are safe from Porter's rage thing! Like legitimately I really liked the mechanics of downtime this season, it just also came at the cost of developing the Rat Grinders!

(Though to be entirely fair, the BKs did try to engage with Oisin, Ivy, and Ruben and then Oisin launched the house, Ivy was racist, and Ruben still attacked Wanda so)

I think it's really fascinating from a storytelling/game design perspective! The downside is the Discourse is so tiring

Yeah it's interesting. I covered some of this in other asks so I'm gonna hit on the stuff I haven't yet.

If you're telling a story that is based partially on user input, it's not entirely fair to be like, "This subplot was underdeveloped" if the reason for that was that the players didn't make choices to facilitate that development. When DM's push hard for the players to care about things they're not interested in, they get hit with railroading accusations.

And even outside of the player choices, there are also the rolls. A BIG part of D&D is the randomness of the dice. Even if the players care about something, it doesn't mean they'll get it. I'll mention again that Kristen tried to roll Insight on Buddy before the final fight and got a Nat 1. What is she supposed to do? Roll again until she gets a good read on him? That's not how that works. If the dice aren't cooperating, there's not much you can do. And you can make sure your big story beats don't rely on dice but at the end of the day they *will* shape your story in ways you can't control.

Another key thing about the medium, as you pointed out, is things can change on the fly. The confluence of high rolls and serious interest can change things that were behind the screen canon in an instant. In Burrow's End, Aabria planned for Bennet to have a family but as soon as Tula/Brennan expressed interest in romancing him, she Thanos snapped that family out of existence. I don't know how much Brennan wanted the Rat Grinders to be recruitable but even if he'd planned them all to just be foils and evil and nothing else, I can totally see him flipping one if they'd really wanted to and it would have made for a good story beat.

Anyway, yeah! Interesting stuff to think about. Even though D20 often feels like a TV show, it's important to remember that it's a different beast in many ways.

[theanticool]

Just got thru watching Du Plessis vs Adesanya.

Someone once said the modern middleweight division is just a bunch of guys who would get railroaded by a prime Chris Weidman and they are 100% correct. I apologize Chris, I called out crazy when you said you had the game to beat Izzy but no you were right. You're just old.

Watching Adesanya, one of the most gifted and skilled strikers, win rounds in a fight despite himself has to be one of the most frustrating things in MMA. He had a lot of great ideas. Attack the body. Punish DDP from range. Punish the blitzes. Use kicks to attack the body. But he just seemingly forgets that he's in an actual fight sometimes? The moving around and resetting. Trying to be this slick counter fighter. Just lead the dance. Take the initiative. Because if you're just going to give a roll of the dice ever few minutes and force yourself to be reactive, you're going to either tire yourself out or allow the other guy to just overwhelm you. And that's what happened here. Adesanya, in that fourth round, got tired and allowed an equally tired DDP to just run after him with big shots as Adesanya's footwork fell apart adn he was forced to turn tail and run. Eventually leading to being put down and submitted.

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias x Reader - Top Spies Part 1/8

Ruben and Reader are super spies, who have to pretend to be a married couple on vacation as a co-signed mission. A enemies to lovers fic, very sweet and funny!

Enjoy!

"Listen up team. We have a big one!"

Captain Harlow order everyone to join him in the meeting lounge. It was more of a den, with black leather couches and dimmed lighting. You were the last one in, leaving you stand as there was nowhere left for you to sit.

"What's up captain?" Asked a man. He was an agent like you.

"Drugs Franklin, that's what's up." Captain tossed a bundle of files on the coffee table before them. "Alejandro Martinez, Portugals most infamous druglord. Last year he managed to import nearly 700 kilos of cocaine into the country."

"How?" The team of agents questioned in unison.

Captain shrugged. "That's for you to find out. Is he using drug mules, an underground railroad..."

"A submarine...." Another agent muttered. His name was Ruben. Although his remark was followed by laughter, knowing Ruben,  he probably meant what he said. He always seemed so serious, never cracking jokes intentionally.

"All we know for sure..." Captain put an end to the chuckles. "...is that we can't have a warrant for his arrest without this information."

Like your fellow agents your brows were furrowed with your mind in deep thought. Importing 700 kilos of cocaine into a country was highly impressive, but also impossible to do, at least in one go.

"Dias, Y/N!"

You raised your head with the calling of your name, so did Ruben.

"My office, now!"

You left the meeting lounge, follwing Captain Harlow towards his office. A giant shadow was casted after you as Ruben walked slowly behind.

"Please have a seat." The captain said, shutting his office door, gesturing for you and Ruben to take the seats before his desk.

"All agents will be on this case in some type of way, but I'm going to need you two to go undercover for this one."

"Understood." Ruben nodded.

"For how long?" You questioned.

"A month, but depending on the progress of the case the period might be longer or shorter."

You nodded.

"Glad you're all aboard. It will be demanding but I see you two as the perfect fit for this job."

"What's the mission Cap?" Ruben said, leaning forward in his chair.

"I need you two to pose as husband and wife on a exclusive vacation to Madeira."

"What?" You and Ruben exclaimed. It was the first time he turned to look at you today. Although it was a brief look, a displeased look.

"You can't be serious Captain? I thought you were assigning us solo missions?" He protested.

"Well I'm not. From now on you'll be Mr and Mrs Moreno, a knewly wed couple enjoying a month at Resort de la Martinez. Alejandro Martinez owns a private vacation resort on the Island. We suspect that some of his illegal shipping trades happens there. The resort is a great way for him to keep an eye on his operations. Which is now your jobs."

"To keep an eye on the merchendis?" You said, eager to get on with the the mission. Ruben however looked to have a headache coming on, impulsively rubbing the side of his scalp.

"Exactly. Any suspicious activity you see reports back to me. Enjoy the mission agents."

"This is unbelievable."

You followed Ruben with quick steps as he stormed out of Captain Harlows office. You followed him all the way back to his desk.

"Well, you better believe it." You said. "Captain has us on a plane to Madeira tonight. "

Ruben turned to look at you, arms crossed before him. "What's your name again Rose?"

You rolled your eyes "It's Y/N."

"Right, Y/N. Look, I know you're new here and all, but you must know that I don't do co-signed missions."

"Oh, I know." You snorted. It had only gone three months since you switch agencies, however it didn't take you to long to figure out the hierchy around here. For example, Ruben was considered to be one of the top agents. You, as a woman and a newbie, considered to be at the bottom.

"There is a first for everything, Ruben." You said.

His eyes widen in surprise. He took a good look at you, considering that it was the first time that he actually looked at you twice.

"Anything else you wish for me to know about you?" You asked.

Ruben grunted in response, turning his back on you to sort out the many files on his desk.

You shook your head, returning to your own desk.

It was going to be a long month.

[ratsoh-writes]

Hey y’all! Say hello to

Ebott~

Or at least the first wip of the ebott map! I have all the main (above ground) locations so far!

For those who are wondering, dark brown is rocky hilly land/cliff sides, rusty brown is mountain ranges, khaki is grassland, green is forest, and light tan is beaches obviously lol. I don’t think I need to say what the blue areas represent.

I’ll add descriptions of each landmark below the next picture.

Alright starting from left to right:

Atlantis: home of the hadal monsters, the majority of this city is underwater, but some of it is accessible through the cliffs of bluefin island as well as floating buildings anchored to the shallower ocean around the island. The majority of Atlantis city houses its people in the curved section of the ocean trench by bluefin island. The buildings are carved into the rock.

Seashore: ebotts second largest beach town, seashore is a beautiful place where the majority of ebotts fishing trade takes place. It’s a popular vacation spot more for ebotts residents, but it does get some tourism too during holiday season.

Echo hills: the southernmost city of ebott, echo hills is a small city surrounded by grassy farmland. Due to the location, the place is raining more than not, and is perfect for crops that need lots of water! Echo hills is best known for its rice, producing just enough to sustain ebott.

Remembrance: located to the west on wells island, remembrance town houses one of the maintained entrances to the connected underground’s. It is also the point where the famine monsters were found and rescued. Here the royals placed the memorial of those left behind. Massive stone statues carved all over with the names of family who died underground or were left behind in the crash surround the caves entrance. A small town of monsters maintain the area, and some livestock are raised there as well.

The great dam: exactly what the name suggests, it’s just ebotts biggest dam. It’s part of the national forest so only a handful of maintenance workers and rangers actually live there. The dam is connected to waterfall lake.

The national forest entrance: this is the official way to see the national park, and access the maintained trails. Most of the park rangers live near here as well. There’s a small tourist trap too selling gift items, and farther up is a hunting lodge that opens during open season.

The Temple: located right in the middle of ebott, the actual temple building sits on top of three large mountains near kidney lake. The temple houses ebotts history and is a popular tourist spot. It also houses one of the maintained entrances to the underground, connected to some of the upper levels of waterfall.

NEW EBOTT: the largest city of ebott, and the capital of the county. New ebott has it all! The education, entertainment, shopping and jobs! And of course all the important big government buildings are here as well as most of the royals! New ebott is the only city connected to all the railroads and has the largest airport.

Rails Way: a city surrounding an important train stop, rails way is the in between rest stop between Portland and new ebott. Besides the trains passing through, it also is where trucks in ebott are made and fixed for the most part. There’s a few other factories in the city as well, like a few metal processing plants.

Metta Land: north to new ebott, this is basically a theme park, mega mall, and Hollywood all rolled into one spot. Metta land is so big that there’s even a few villages around it where its employees live. It also houses the only man/monster made entrance to the underground, going straight to hotland of course. What happens in metta land stays in metta land

Portland: this is the second biggest city of ebott located on the east. Almost all trade ships stop here. Portland is a bustling business city full of factories, and has a few houses of education too! It also houses most of ebotts navy and has the second largest airport.

Cape resort: located on the southern rocky cliffs, cape resort is in fact not a resort. It’s rocky, cold and generally horrible to live in if you’re not an aquatic monster lol. However it has an oil rig. Lots of hadal and sea monsters live there maintaining that oil rig.

New hope: new hope is a beautiful mountain town housing the entrance to snowdin, the largest entrance to the underground. It gets the largest amount of tourists year round and is a popular ski location during the winters as well. The parts of new hope that aren’t for tourists are mostly farmland or forests put aside for logging. Plenty of vineyards are in this area

Ridgeside factory: Ridgeside factory is ebotts main power plant and is directly connected to the core in hotland as well. It’s surrounded by a few villages too where more outdoorsy monsters live. Those who don’t work at the factory are either from hotland or are miners. The mountains in the area are littered with natural caverns being used as mine entrances

Golden valley city: the golden valley refers to the surrounding farmland, but in the very middle of it is the golden valley city. It is a rural type of place, is where the majority of ebotts produce passes through before being sold, and is a huge art center of the country. Just about everything above ground is grown in the valley surrounding the city.

Steeler city, the third largest city of ebott, steeler is where golden valley ships their produce to be preserved and spread around the rest of the country. Steeler is full of factories and restaurants. The most famous eating places of ebott are located here!

Crimson gate bridge: it’s a massive bridge named after the Golden Gate Bridge in California. This bridge is actually a sunny gold color, but they named it crimson in fear of being called copycats

Corncopia: a third farming community located between the split between white water river, ebotts biggest river. Corncopia is absolutely gorgeous but space is limited so it’s a fight to get any land there. The prime spots are taken by the rich for their homes or by the big wig farmers who cemented their place when the country was first forming

Not listed on the map is the underground! Ebott still has all the underground chambers from when the monsters were sealed away. New entrances to the underground are being discovered each day, and still plenty of monsters live there, preferring the comfort of a home they knew from before. Since there no longer trapped inside, the underground has become pretty comfortable. At least the discovered parts are ;)

I’ll describe the three main areas from smallest to largest

Hotland: hotland is really only a small thin chunk of the underground. A long but thin lake of lava surrounded by rocky chambers makes up the areas of hotland. The most popular spot of course is hotland city, connected to metta land, it’s pretty much the Vegas of ebott these days. The less visited spot, core, is a small town housing the core, connected to Ridgeside factory, and housing several research centers.

Snowdin. Snowdin is actual just the name of the small quaint town close to the underground entrance in new hope. They have year round skiing, and a pretty boat ride through waterfall straight to hotland for tourists. The outskirts of snowdin however have several villages filled with farmers growing magical crops that thrive in the cold temperatures.

Waterfall: it’s estimated that nearly 80% of the underground chambers are waterfall lands. Humid, cool but not frigid, and filled with varying levels of fresh and salt water, waterfall is underneath the majority of ebott, and even extends into the ocean some. Almost all of ebotts magical crops are grown down in the lived in parts of waterfall. It’s because of this area that ebott is self sufficient in feeding its people. Waterfall also houses the fourth and fifth largest cities of ebott; New Shell and Lily pad Fields.

Whew! That was a lot! I’ll probably add more to the map later on, but I think this is good for now

[chronotsr]

No. 1 - G1, The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III (cover), David A. Trampier Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #197, Tales from the Yawning Portal

I'm not sure if G1-G3 are the most remastered adventures of all time, but it's gotta be competitive. I think Tomb of Horrors might have it beat, but I haven't counted. The 4e conversion [the Dungeon #197 one] is really weird in particular because…4e feels like the edition least interested in the legacy of DND? It was boldly doing its own thing. A good quality, actually.

Anyway, it's time to slag off* on a beloved adventure. Note, I am using the earliest copy of G1 I can find, which is from waaaay later when D3 was complete. I apologize.

*And by slag off, I mean "be critical of at all". In practice, this module is actually showing some unusual acumen compared to its contemporaries.

EDIT: I forgot to mention a rather important thing when this was made live -- note the title there! We are officially in ADND land now, so put away your little brown booklets and switch over to the fuck-off awesome player's handbook with the iconic Moloch statue!

Somehow I had gotten my whole life at this point never really…understanding what this structure was supposed to look like? It looks like this.

I honestly think exterior shots of dungeons are critically underrated. Handouts are amazing and being able to flash the back cover art to safely show the party "like this" is actually great, I deeply wish that….any? of the previous modules had done that? I think the only one that did was Tsojconth. Weirdly, the interior drawing is very subtly different. Look at how the logs face:

Not a huge deal but, a kind of weird inconsistency that top one looks like a stockade and the bottom one looks like a log cabin. Side note, we know that the long dimension of this is using 210 feet tall logs, which is to say, the size of an average redwood. These are some big fuck-off trees -- which could be a very interesting detail about the local area.

Now the setup is pretty simple. You were hired to go beat up the giants because they've been raiding the local humans, figure out why they're raiding, and comeback posthaste. The locals have kitted you out with horses, guides, maps, et c -- but no compensation, they have simply omitted a finder's fee (cheap bastards). Also, if you fail, they'll execute you. With friends like these, who needs Giants?

Gary starts with some mild railroading (you accepted the job already, you are already kitted out, you already walked to a nearby cave, you waited til dusk to approach, you notice two guards are missing, and the cave is guaranteed to be moderately hidden. Sure, whatever, I'm going to ignore that if I run this tho. Gary notifies us of a few critical details:

Don't run this stock, that's immoral

Any surviving giants will flee to G2 if they have the opportunity (which, kind of inherently punishes clever play that avoids combat?)

There is a 2% chance per round that the wooden structure will be lit on fire due to chronic rain (why is this a dice roll??)

If you will permit me a tangent, player arson is truly the bane of interesting scenarios everywhere. Whenever a player wonders, "why are all the GM's dungeons underground or in stonework buildings?", it's because doing anything else invites arson as the default and best answer to all problems. Magic items are fireproof and most metal items will not get hot enough to be destroyed, so very often the best solution is to burn the place to the ground and loot it the next day. So, yeah. No wood buildings. Gary's fix is to have all the giants flee into the basement, then waste a week of the PC's time for daring to use arson. Kind of sucks!

Tangent complete.

Here's some random interesting bits:

Gary explicitly states that you can pass yourself off as hill giant kids, which is extremely funny. Minus the implicit child murder.

Naturally there are giant moms doing giant housemaid shit in several rooms. Presumably they have giant curlers too.

The secret door is, literally just a doorway covered by a pelt. I have to hand it to them, that'd trip up most players in 2024 AND make them feel stupid for not figuring it out!

The big reveal that Eclavdra the Drow is secretly behind it all is so lightly teased that it feels downright tasteful.

A giant that uses a ballista as a crossbow (based) and spears for arrows (also based) -- between the prevalence of lightning spears and greatarrows, one starts to think of a certain famous video game. Genuinely I think it'd be a fun exercise one day, for someone who is more knowledgeable than me about Japanese fantasy roleplaying culture, to talk about how anglophone fantasy works made their way into Japan and were interpreted.

One of the cloud giants has hidden a sentient giant slaying sword that speaks all the giant languages, it feels like there's a hell of a story going on there that is only alluded to!

To my knowledge, this is the first official depiction of an orc in DND? Which implies that Gary is team pig-orcs, which is cool. Frankly, I love porcine orcs, or even better just pigfolk in general, they're great.

I think it is actually a rather bold early stance for Gary to hold that, even here in 1978, Chaotic aligned creatures are not automatically friends. Granted, that's how it is in Elric, so it's not THAT bold, but clearly everyone else missed the memo. The orcs are willing to side with you at least in the short-run, and in our previous modules it was very rare to have groups of chaotic-aligned creatures fighting one another. It was always just personal beefs. In fact, the overall theme of G1 so far is that despite the boxy-ass dungeon design, there's already a command of naturalism that even modern dungeons really struggle with. Factionalism truly is the gift that keeps on giving for the GM!

So the big reveal internally to G1 (just think of that -- a reveal internally to G1, and externally to the GDQ supermodule -- we're already getting pacing!) is that the orc slaves have rebelled. And -- hey -- good for them. There's also a kind of…built-in companion refill system going on here? So in oldish DND the way it works is, the expectation is the party is not just 5 guys with swords. You've got companions to help fight, and you've got hirelings to do other stuff (test suspected traps, if you're evil). And you can only hire so many of these guys from town, but attrition is going to happen. So the modules simply provides, automatic replacements should you negotiate worth a quarter of a shit. A dwarf slave here, an orc slave there. Maybe a giant dissenter if you're really clever. One of the potential "rewards" you can get is more dudes to throw at problems.

More interesting bits

There is, what I can only really call an abortive idea going on here where there's a scary temple in the basement? But no one worships there and no information is provided. It is merely a fucked up altar. I think I vaguely recall that it's retconned Tharizdun in one of the remakes? They always retcon things to be Tharizdun. Busy man, Tharzy.

Gary, Gary no. Stop it. Stop this 78 guys bullshit. I thought we had established that giant rooms of giant clumps of guys was bad. I know you have terminal Napoleonics brain but stop.

Wait, Steading is a noun? I always thought it was a verb. Yknow, like "Steading those hill giants", taking 'em down a notch. Apparently, a Steading is a small farm -- same etymology as Homestead. I guess mark that as our first Gygaxism?

Our second Gygaxism is gill, which is "a quarter pint of an alcoholic drink", which is to say a few mouthfuls

Always end your adventures with weird, ominous non-diegetic text. On the flip-side, absolutely do not do what the adventure does, and end on a teleporter that takes you to the next dungeon. That is the worst option.

Anyway, that's the whole Hill Giant situation. Honestly, it's better than I remembered, but in proud module tradition up to this point it gets weirdly filler-y in the basement. There's just something about basements that makes dungeon designers stop giving a shit, I swear. I do need to give the man his due, even though he was a shitass person: Gygax wrote an 11 page module that is of noticeably higher killer-to-filler ratio than any of his contemporaries. G1 is better than any of its predecessors, pound for pound. It is way, way shorter which is I suppose a plus to me and a minus to others, but -- there is a clear internal logic to this place that is tragically missing from (say) The Dwarven Glory. And that internal logic is the beginning of good adventure design. Anyway, we have two fun tidbits to discuss before we end for the day.

First up, we have an of-the-time account of events in Dragon #19! It turns out that in Origins '78 they played G1-G3's prototype. The account is of the winners (mostly West Virginians, a few Michiganders), who used their magic extremely liberally to hide what they were doing as well as to scout. They did opt to light the place on fire, good for them! If you want to check this out, it's on page 3. I will mention G2 and G3 here as relevant later.

Second up, there's a weird interquel hiding in Dungeon #198! Hanging out as an informal G1.5 is "The Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane!" I will not review it in full because my understanding of 4e is, basically just skimming the PHB and reading the DMG, but essentially the Stone Giants are hypothetically aloof and not particularly loyal to their Fire Giant superiors, but someone gave them The Rock That Makes You Crazy and so now they are. Smash the rock!

Man, map design in the 4e era was so fucking bad. It looks fine, but like, this is four circles. And downstairs is, of course, cave as far as the eye can see. Aren't stone giants supposed to be skilled carvers? Anyway, If you feel like G2 would be too big of a jump mechanically compared to G1, this exists. I'm sure you could use it if you liked, and certainly there is a Genre of Grognard who would be kinda tickled at the thought of finding "lost content" for el classico GDQ.

Next week, we cover G2, which was also in July. So was G3! They're triplets!

[1863-project]

what’s your favorite train (steam, electric, diesel)

I think I've answered similar questions to this before, but it's been a while so I might as well talk about it again!

Steam Locomotives:

Most people who follow me know about my obsession with LNER 4468 Mallard. Mallard is the current steam traction speed record holder. Are there chances other locomotives managed to go faster at some points? Sure. Were any of those officially recorded? No, and Mallard's record was, so that's the one that stands. 126 mph was the maximum speed. Mallard is also exceptionally beautiful and has incredible streamlining.

Strasburg #90, a beloved childhood friend of mine I grew up going to see every spring/summer as a kid. In 2022, she became the first steam locomotive I ever drove, and it was the most fulfilling experience of my life. Having that experience for the first time with a dear friend was so much more meaningful than it would have been had it been another locomotive.

I'm also fond of New York Central Hudsons (bonus points for Dreyfuss streamlining), the Milwaukee Road's Atlantics, Pennsy K4s and G5s, the Norfolk and Western J Class Northerns, C&O 614 (also a Northern), Southern Pacific GS-4s...the list goes on and on. I've never met a steam locomotive I didn't like...though you'd never catch me driving a camelback.

Electric Locomotives:

This is generally something people know within a few minutes of meeting me, especially since the ita bag I take around is filled with pins of them - I have been utterly obsessed with the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 since I was a really little child. Normally I tend to do steam stuff, but the Art Deco Cyclops is my electric exception and I am so, so fond of them. Special shoutout to the prototype, OId Rivets, who I love so much I named an Eelektross after her. She's the only one without the welded, smooth streamlining, instead having a riveted body, hence her name. They were just the most perfect electric locomotives (except for the PCBs in the insulating oil in their transformers, which is why none of the preserved ones are operational).

Diesel Locomotives:

I'm not a big diesel person, so sorry to the people who are. They just don't usually capture me the way steam locomotives do - steam locomotives feel like they have souls to me in a way I don't feel like I can accurately put into words. That said, I do have one diesel I'm attached to - NJT 4100, a locomotive that's been running where she is since before the current operating agency she works for, New Jersey Transit, even existed. She's over 50 years old with no signs of slowing down. I affectionately refer to her as "The Old Fuck." I have a tag for when I have the great fortune to have an Old Fuck sighting here, but it's been a while since I last saw her in person. Luckily, there's Railroad Picture Archives, where I can keep tabs on any locomotive or other rolling stock I want. Since those photos go by the date they were taken, I can see when the most recent ones of The Old Fuck were taken, make sure she's still on the rails, and prepare to try to fight for her preservation whenever that time comes.

[eponymous-rose]

I was thinking about something that happened about ten years ago - I've talked about it here, but not for a while.

(tw: plane crash, death)

In college, I was close friends with a fellow student named Mike - we had all our classes together, we worked on every project together, we hung out at cafes and made big plans and drew comics in the margins of our notes to make each other laugh. He wanted nothing more than to be a pilot. The last time I saw him he and I and our group of friends were walking down some unused railroad tracks, knowing it was the end and we were all going our separate ways, excited and melancholy in equal measure.

I went off to grad school in 2010; he became a pilot. He flew supply runs in Antarctica, an absolute dream. He shared pictures of every flight he was on: spectacular vistas, impossibly remote places.

I moved to the U.S. in the fall of 2012 for my PhD. There I met some lovely people right off the bat; a somewhat intense woman who confessed to Facebook stalking me once she heard we were going to be in the same office, who introduced me to her awkward-but-sweet boyfriend, also in our graduate program, and promptly invited me to her birthday party to be held two weeks after meeting me. A quiet woman from Brazil who I uncharacteristically approached after class when I noticed she was looking a little down; we chatted and she confessed to feeling lost after moving so far from home, especially now that her husband had moved back. A cheerful woman with a bubbly personality who struck up a conversation with me as we walked between classes.

We realized our Brazilian classmate had never done a US-style pumpkin carving, so when Halloween rolled around I awkwardly invited everyone I'd met thus far to my apartment for just such an activity (where I met the bubbly woman's high school sweetheart, an entertainingly stoic contrast until we got to know each other better). I liked this group of friends, but I didn't know them particularly well, so when my birthday rolled around in January of 2013, I was a little hesitant when they announced they'd throw me a party, but I was cautiously looking forward to it.

Then I got word that a plane Mike was on had crashed in Antarctica.

At first, the news came through piecemeal - he might not have been on the plane, he was on the plane but they were pretty sure it had just made an emergency landing and due to weather they couldn't confirm, but then it was several days in a row of rescue missions being called off again and again due to dangerous weather. In the end, around midnight on my birthday while I was nervously messaging one of our mutual friends and refreshing the news pages, it was confirmed that the plane had been spotted and the crash was not survivable; not even his body could be recovered. I had to convey the news to my friend via text.

It was really devastating as my first (sadly not last) real experience with a death like that, inconceivable and impossible to prepare for and with so little closure. And then I got a message from my group of new friends - they knew what had happened and were okay with calling off the planned party that day, but if I was up for it, they wanted to see me and get me something good to eat and distract me for a few hours.

In spite of the voice inside that told me to wallow, I went. And - I tear up just thinking about it - laid out on the table at my friend's apartment was my name spelled out in cupcakes, with a little Canadian flag in a vase, and it was so cheesy and sweet and heartfelt that I couldn't help but be charmed, distracted from misery. We had a great evening! We ate great food and chatted long into the night.

And for that, and for so many other things, all of their names are engraved on the walls of my heart. I don't mean to make it sound transactional - they did this for me, I would do anything for them, that kind of thing. It's unconditional, it's a realization that near-strangers did something fundamentally kind and I have in turn been given the incredible gift, again and again, to do kind things for them in turn.

I've since been unfathomably lucky to have found another group of friends, the (in)famous Movie Night Crew, who similarly rescued me three years ago when Mom died and Hector died, and that's a story I can't tell yet because it still hurts. But I'm incredibly lucky. I just am.

That group of friends who sat around the table of cupcakes with me after Mike died are still very dear to me, and I'm leaving on Friday to attend one of their weddings (with the exception of the Brazilian woman who is on the other side of the planet being incredible, all the others will be there, including the bubbly woman and her stoic high school sweetheart, now married and part of my weekly D&D game!). As a shy and awkward kid, all I ever wanted was to be a good friend. To have been given these riches of opportunities to learn to be just that... I can't fathom how I got so lucky.

Sappy? Sure. But I hope everyone reading this gets a chance to find that kind of love. It radiates.

[lonelypond]

NicoMaki, HonoKotoUmi, Love Live, 4.3K, 4/4

Summary: Honoka makes a decision as the rest of the crew rush to her aid.

Mighty Fine Shootin', Chapter 4

Twenty minutes before

The wagon with dynamite was slowing Tsubasa down. They were in sight of the railroad tracks and could see the smoke from the approaching train. Frustrated, Tsubasa had dismounted and taken over the reins of the wagon, urging the cart horses faster with curses and slaps. It seemed to be working, at least from Honoka's perspective. So she had a hard choice, do something while they were on the move, before actual contact with the train. To wait would be endangering too many innocents. And Umi and Kotori. Honoka wished no one ill but Tsubasa had made bad choices over and over again. Today, there would be consequences. Honoka slowed her horse, letting fellow members of the gang pass her. One gloved hand rested on the handle of her Colt pistol, relaxed so as not to draw attention. Honoka would briefly have the element of surprise. She hoped she'd read the signs and signals right. A glance at the plume of smoke from the train. It was getting closer. No more delay. Her hand hesitated. It gritted too hard against Honoka's nature, a sneak attack. The dynamite wasn't going anywhere faster than her bullet would find it. And Honoka wasn't a cold blooded killer.

"Hey, Tsubasa. Better jump."

Kira Tsubasa's head swivelled and chilly green eyes locked onto Honoka's, opening wide as so many little hints swarmed into a realization about why she'd never found out the identity of the marshal. Right under her nose. Like the dynamite. And then Tsubasa leapt through the air, rolling into a landing.

One snake strike motion and Honoka's gun was out and two bullets headed to the load of dynamite in the wagon. Barely even a breath before a searing heat pulsed outward with a huge, concussive noise, throwing riders off horses, other horses stumbling back and rearing. Forewarned, Honoka controlled her horse, steering her clear of the chaos. And then the riders came out of the trees, a very familiar voice calling out, "U.S. Marshals. Surrender!"

Yukiho. Yukiho had gotten her message. A flash of fawn colored hair caught Honoka's eye. Kotori? No, her mother, retired Deputy Director of The Marshals, who'd recruited and trained Honoka, Yukiho, and Umi. A gunshot kicking the dirt next to her horse focused Honoka back in the present. Where had Erena and Anju gotten to? Tsubasa wasn't getting to her feet. Still too close to the wagon to be unscathed. Honoka spotted orange hair running to where Tsubasa had likely landed. Anju. Honoka laid along her horse's back, minimizing her profile. Erena had probably found cover in the chaos, ducking back into the trees, probably on foot, the better to scramble out on a branch and use her sniper skills.  Bullets were whining by everywhere. Honoka spotted Yukiho to her left with Director Minami by her side. They were returning fire, while pushing the scattered bandits toward the central wreckage of the wagon. Honoka rode to Yukiho's other side.

"Glad to see you."

"Hey, sis. You sure do know how to send a signal."

"There's a sniper somewhere. She'll probably be after me."

"Get cover. Now." Director Minami ordered.

"You're a big target, sis."

A bullet tore through Honoka's hat.

"Darn it."

Yukiho leaned over and pushed Honoka in the direction of the closest cover, "Just go."

Honoka chivvied her horse, hurrying to reach a less exposed location.

###

Eli hadn't seen Nozomi in a couple of hours. Time to tip up her hat, lean back, and lose a few hands to ease her absence from the table.

Pair of fives. Not a great hand. She let herself frown and pushed a dollar chip forward.

"I'll take three."

Dealer obliged. Eli stared at her full house, keeping the frown. Raises went around the table, gamblers eager to get some of their stash back. Eli was about to oblige them. 5 to her. "I'll see your 5 and raise you…" hesitate, bite lip, give off hurried air, "two."

"You're bluffing. I'm in."

Neither of her remaining rivals raised so when it came back to Eli she laid out her initial pair.

The pale man next to her snorted, "That the best you got? Flush." He laid 5 clubs on the table. "They might not be pretty but they get the job done, Miss Russian."

Eli knew he'd slipped the ace of clubs out of his worn sleeve. Once upon a time, she would have shot a hole in his hat and slit his cuffs. Now she sighed, an envious smile at his good fortune.

"Da, ya got me. Time for a dinner break." Eli pushed back from the table, making sure to swivel her hip so her pistol hit the table, to discourage anyone from joining her.

A boom. The train rocked. Nozomi. Where was Nozomi? Eli shoved through to the aisle and started running. She pulled up when she saw Umi, both hands raised to block her.

"Where's Nozomi?"

"I sent her to get the horses. We've got to stop the train."

"Why? The explosion was behind us."

"Honoka will be out there, alone. We have to hurry."

"UMI!" Kototi skittered around Eli, going straight for Umi, throwing her arms around the sheriff's waistcoat.

"Kotori, let me breathe."

Eli shook her head. "You stop the train. You have the badge. I'm going to help Nozomi."

Umi considered. "All right. Bring the horses to the locomotive. There's at least two bandits. Nozomi knows who they are."

Nozomi with two bandits. Eli didn't wait to listen to anything else Umi said.

###

Nozomi held the shotgun almost lazily. But anyone who could read people would have been warned by the narrowing of her eyes. The bandits misread the situation, choosing threats.

"I gave you your cigs. Let us through."

"You're not taking any horses."

"It's two to one. How are you going to stop us."

"Easy. I'm gonna let you go." Nozomi cocked the gun, raising it to her chest. "Just step off the train and I won't follow."

"You won't follow. Like we're supposed to be scared."

A smile. Cold. "That's the best offer you'll get on this train. I'd take it if I were you."

"NOZOMI!" could be heard from behind the door. Then before anyone could react, Eli broke through, reading the situation in an instant and tackling the bandit who had their gun on Nozomi. Knee on their chest, Eli had her pistol out and pointed at the bandit's face, "You're under arrest."

Nozomi had stepped closer to the other bandit, rifle cocked, pointed at their temple. "Drop your gun."

Metal hit the ground. Nozomi kicked it away. "I told you that was the easy way."

"Nozomi?"

"I'm fine, Eli."

"Thank God."

"Where's Umi?"

"Stopping the train." Eli looked Nozomi over and seeing no wounds, relaxed. "You'd better get the guards. We'll have to restrain these two and leave 'em."

"Just let me cuff this one so she can't cause you any trouble." With a strength that surprised her captive, Nozomi had her wrists chained around a post in under a minute. "I'll be right back." Nozomi winked, "Don't have too much fun without me."

"Nozomi."

Nozomi laughed, "Sorry." She kissed the top of Eli's head. "I won't be long, love."

Once Nozomi was gone, Eli growled and casually connected the bandit's head to the floor of the train as she adjusted her hold on their shirt collar. They swallowed back their complaint when they read the murder lurking in blue eyes.

"Stay still."

"Yes'm."

"Good."

###

The engine room was hot and crowded, impatience thick in the air.

"Stop the train." Umi demanded.

"I can't."

Unlike the train, Umi had no intention of stopping. "Are you the engineer? Is this train equipped with air brakes?"

"Yes."

Umi moved closer to the controls. "Which of these activates them?"

The grizzled engineer pushed back, "You don't know what you're doing. There are bandits out there."

"And I am here to help stop them. Pull the brake."

The engineer glanced to his partner, who started to reach for something to use as a weapon.

Umi pulled out her badge, "Sheriff Umi Sonoda, working with the Federal Marshals. There are two bandits on this train. My colleagues have probably transferred custody to your railroad police."

"Why didn't railroad security warn us?"

"We set a trap for the A-Rise gang. Only the actively involved law enforcement officers knew."

A chin scratch. An easing of the engineer's posture. Kotori stepped forward, "Please listen to Umi, sir. We're needed. And we need your help."

Umi had never witnessed anyone turn down Kotori. This engineer would not start a new trend. He reached for a lever, then hesitated. "Does it have to be a full stop?"

"We need our horses."

He nodded, then turned to his younger colleague, "Better get up there, Jimmy."

"Yup." And the brakeman headed for the roof of the car next in line.

"Thank you." Umi's sincerity eased the mood.

"Just nail those bastards to a tree. I lost good friends in a raid last year."

"We will do our best."

A shared glance, a nod, and the train shuddered to a stop.

###

Erena hadn't been able to resist a shot at Kousaka, that traitor. Marshals were everywhere, circling her team, herding them, disarming them, now about to set up a perimenter. She could see Anju's ginger hair, bent over Tsubasa, thrown several yards from the wreckage. Maybe Tsubasa was still alive…Honoka hadn't had the grit to do her job thoroughly. Erena spotted two marshals heading in her direction. She'd have to flee, gather whoever she could find, and get set up in a hideout for winter. A chance to rescue her friends might come but only if she escaped. Walking her horse quietly through the trees, she hurried to reach a spot out of the sight of the marshals so she could mount up.

###

Maki had switched to automatic mode, her muscles urging the horse faster, her mind racing through most likely injuries due to explosives. Unless someone had made rudimentary triage efforts, Maki was in a desperate race against blood loss. She could smell the acrid smoke and blood and gunpowder. Must be close. Ahead of her, a rider directed their horse across the trail Maki was on. She pulled up Midnight, angry.

"Get out of my way. I'm a doctor. People might be dying."

"No one is getting through. We have it under control."

"Are there injuries? I can help. Don't be stupid."

Maki heard horses behind her. Nico. And Rin. Rin would get her through. She urged Midnight into a turn.

"Rin. Tell them I'm a doctor."

Rin was out of breath and holding her badge in front of her, "Let her through. Is Honoka okay?"

"Hoshizora! Good to see you. We were afraid you might be…"

Rin glanced over her shoulder to Hanayo. "I'm fine. Let Maki through."

Maki pushed Midnight to a trot.

"I'm with her. Don't try to stop me." Nico's voice snapped from next to her.

This was better. Maki could make a difference now. And Nico, Rin, and Hanayo had her back.

###

Maki could read an accident or battle scene automatically. Bustles of activity, lines of fighters or rescuers, riderless horses moving in dangerously erratic patterns. Her eyes were drawn to oases of quiet, the almost hidden patches where silence and blood mingled, tears often in the mix. About fifteen feet from the still burning wagon, Maki saw a stillness and dismounting, she grabbed her waxed canvas roll from the saddle and headed for her first patient, not paying attention to warning shouts or passing bullets. Nico cursed, grabbed several blankets, and jumped down, grabbing Midnight's reins, tossing them at Rin and Hanayo.

"Tie the horses somewhere safe. I'm going after Maki."

Hanayo gulped, but nodded with more confidence than she felt. Horses were a problem she could manage.

"You got this Kayo-chin. I'm gonna find Honoka."

"Be careful, Rin."

Rin cheerfully saluted and searched for a fellow Marshal, Sugar calmly following Rin's lead. Hanayo dismounted, patting Cream, "We'll be fine, girl. Let's see where we can wait." Cream's lead rope in one hand and Midnight and Rose's in the other, Hanayo headed for the treeline.

###

Anju hissed as Maki shoved past her to kneel next to an unconscious Tsubasa.

"Get away from her."

"I'm a doctor. Be quiet."

A rough hand on Anju's shoulder pulled her away from Tsubasa and Maki. Nico had her gun and knife confiscated in less than a minute.

"Yazawa."

"Anju."

"Tsubasa's gonna…"

"Tsubasa's lucky to be alive. How come you're not in cuffs?"

Anju shrugged. Nico figured the marshals hadn't registered her as a threat. And with Tsubasa wounded, maybe she wasn't. Nico wouldn't be taking any chances. Not with Maki completely absorbed in examining the patient.

"Where's Erena? Is she in custody."

Anju didn't respond, watching Maki's face for any clue as to Tsubasa's condition.

Maki had her kit unrolled. "Is there any hot water?"

"Take these blankets." Nico shoved them past Anju. "I'll start a fire."

"Is she dying?" Anju whined.

Maki tucked a wool blanket around Tsubasa, using a second as a pillow, gently moving Tsubasa's head with the smallest motions. "You did well stopping the bleeding." Maki glanced to the wagon, the fire almost burnt out. "She's far enough from the blast zone that we might not be dealing with internal injuries. But these lacerations," Maki pointed at Tsubaba's forehead, "indicate she hit her head, as does her unconscious state."

"What does that mean?"

Nico was half listening as she gathered kindling and larger sticks, stacked them, and ignited her tinder.

"Probable concussion. No way to know how bad the damage is until she regains consciousness."

"Can't you do something?"

Ignoring her frantic audience, Maki had her stethoscope earpieces in, the bell on Tsubasa's chest.

"What's happening? Is she breathing?" Anju pressed, panic rising.

"Leave Maki alone. She's a good doctor. She'll save Tsubasa if she can. She saved Nico." Nico grabbed Anju, pulling her to her feet. "Help Nico find something to heat water in."

"I want to stay."

"We're going." Nico had left her rifle in its saddle holster but she had her pistol. Drawing it got Anju's attention and agreement.

###

Chaos. Honoka had lost her horse somewhere and knocked out, cuffed, or tied up so many members of the A-Rise gang she'd lost count. Her feet were sore, every time she went to rub her eyes the sight of her soot blackened hands stopped her. She needed water and a break. Where had Yukiho gone?

"Honoka!!!"

Umi? Honoka spun, suddenly lighter. Umi, hat flying off her head, was running toward her, Kotori right behind. They were here. They were safe. Umi's strong arms wrapped around her, Kotori's tears dropping onto both their shoulders.

"Honoka." Kotori sobbed.

Honoka felt strong enough to pick them both up but she knew that was just adrenaline surging at the touch of her lovers.

"You're all right." Kotori's hand was on Honoka's cheek, golden eyes searching for wounds.

Honoka grinned, shaking herself, "I need a bath but I'm fine, Kotori. How did you get here?"

"We heard the explosion. Captured the two bandits on the train, turned them over to the railroad police. Then stopped the train and got off." Umi held Honoka close for a long minute, then stepped back. Honoka grabbed her hand.

"You're not getting away."

"Can we help?"

"Kotori's mom's in charge."

"Mama!"

"Yeah. I didn't know if you'd make it so I took a chance and snuck out and telegramed Yukiho. She and Kotori's mom brought a bunch of marshals."

"I am very glad you were not facing A-Rise alone."

"Me too. Especially after I set off the explosion."

"You did what?"

"I couldn't let them get to the train. I knew you were on it."

"Honoka." Kotori's voice was soft.

"Honoka." Umi's was accusatory.

"I'm fine."

"You're lucky."

"Lucky to have the two of you." Honoka wrapped her arms around their shoulders. "Let's find Kotori's mom. I need some grub."

"And we can assist ongoing efforts."

"That's my Umi." Honoka laughed, "Did you two have any fun at all while I was gone, Kotori?"

Kotori started to tear up.

Honoka felt panic for the first time that day and rushed into an apology. "I'm sorry, Kotori. Don't cry. I'm fine. I'm coming home. Please don't cry."

Umi had almost chucked Honoka on the back of the head but restrained. "Then resist the urge to ask disturbing questions."

"C'mon, let's go."

"Lead the way." Umi's heart eased as her stride matched Honoka's. On a parallel course, Kotori between them, reunited, all safe, their love solid. They had built a home and family on this foundation.

###

Eli finished shaking a marshal's hand as she turned over three members of the bandits to the authorities. A special locomotive with two rail cars was coming from Denver with additional marshals and railroad police to pick up the captured gang members.

"You look tired, Elichi." Nozomi swung in, sliding her arms around Eli's waist.

"I am. Had to ride those three down."

"Where's your horse?"

Eli pointed vaguely north, "Left it with one of the marshals. Have you seen Umi?"

"She and Kotori found Honoka and went to talk to Kotori's mom. She's the retired Deputy Director Of The Marshals."

"I know."

Nozomi giggled, "Spent some time in her office?"

Eli shrugged. "Let's just say, I'm sure she'd be a bit too interested in anything I've been up to."

"But you're a blacksmith now. And a stalwart of the community. Umi relies on you."

There was something in Eli's eyes, something hidden, something haunted. There had been too much crossover with her old life these past few days. Eli loosened the bandana around her neck. "Is there any food around for a hungry rider?"

"Actually, Hanayo's got a nice little set up."

Eli smiled at that, "She's probably got rice cooking in at least two pots."

"Good guess."

Eli shifted her gun belt, "It'll be a nice touch of home."

###

Nico had left Anju with Umi and taken on the job of gathering the horses that were milling around riderless. She found a small clearing and put one of the younger marshals in charge. As she gathered more mounts, Maki's near constant movement was a distraction, the doctor stomping through camp, triaging the wounded, dealing with the most dire cases first. Nico finally had to focus on her own task and leave Maki to hers. Several A-Rise members had been close to the explosion; Maki setting a few fractures, cleaning and stitching wounds, stabilizing patients for transport and administering painkillers. Tsubasa remained unconscious so she was carefully moved to the area where the wounded were being prepared to be transferred onto the train.

"Nico!!!" Rin's voice rang out, distracting Nico from the feedbags she was putting over horses' noses.

"Something happen?" Nico asked.

"You got to come eat. Kayo-chin's made curry. She sent me to get you and Maki."

"Have you seen Maki?"

Rin shook her head. "Nope. Haven't been everywhere yet."

"Nico will look. Take over here."

"Sure." Rin grabbed the feedbag, petting the horse's blaze, "Hey, buddy."

Nico went back into the main area, now much more organized. She didn't immediately see a redhead. She did hear Honoka.

"Umi, you've got to convince her. There'll be a doctor on the train. She looks so exhausted."

Nico pivoted, heading for Honoka's voice.

"NICO!!! You're alive!" Honoka rushed Nico, lifting her off the ground. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Nico's glad too. Now what were you saying about Maki?"

"She's sleepwalking, can't keep her eyes open."

"Where is she?"

Honoka pointed to the left, "She was heading for the wagon last I spotted her."

Nico touched Umi's forearn, "I'll get her to take a break."

Umi nodded, "I think you could. Honoka and I need to go over some details with Director Minami. Will you be going on to Denver?"

Nico hesitated. She'd planned to go, to testify, then head further south to see her family. But the memory of the last time she'd seen Maki kept revisiting, the doctor bent with exhaustion, her steps a forced, weary shuffle, not a confident stride.

"Do you need Nico to testify in court?"

Honoka and Umi shared a glance, "We can take a sworn statement from you, say it's to keep you safe and anonymous."

"Erena's still out there." Nico muttered.

"She'll be more focused on Tsubasa." Honoka drew a line with her heel, "And me."

"Erena saw me. And Tsubasa knows where my family lives."

"Don't worry about it, Nico. The marshals will take care of your family. And the gang is probably done for the winter, if not longer. Maki's not sure how much brain damage Tsubasa might have suffered. She was awfully close to the explosion."

"You saved lives Honoka." Umi said softly.

"I know but…"

Nico decided not to third wheel. She had an emotional crisis of her own to resolve. "I'll find Maki; you find Kotori."

"Thanks, Nico. You're good people. We won't forget that."

Honoka held out her hand. Nico shook it, surprised at the relief Honoka's simple words allowed her.

###

Maki had to sit. No one thinking sensibly would pick the still warm, burnt out husk of an exploded wagon but Maki was cold, the wagon still had enough sturdiness that she could lean back against it, and at the angle she chose, it protected her from the sight of most of the camp.

She closed her eyes, leaning forward into her knees, her head resting on her arms. The noises had quietened. No shots, no shouts, just distant movement, conversation, things and people being dragged, horses snorting their opinions and requests at any passerbys. She could hear friends, sometimes a voice almost familiar spoke her name, but Maki just drew further into her shell. She had no intention of replying. She did not wish to be found. She'd done good work, saved lives, saved limbs, but after, there came the heaviness, the words trapped in her chest, the energy it took to even listen to a question. She had none for responses.

Boots in front of her. Maki glanced up. It was too dark to see the expression on Nico's face.

"Brought you some food." Nico crouched to hand Maki a tin cup full of what smelled like curry. "Not as good as Nico's but it'll warm you up."

Maki inhaled. Warm. Spices smelled good. Curry over rice; Hanayo had obviously taken over the campfire for the dinner shift.

"Nico's been rounding up the horses, feeding them."

Maki snorted. Maybe Nico should have brought her dinner in a feedbag.

"C'mon, eat." Nico tapped Maki's cup, "Nico's been watching you. You haven't had a break."

Maki forced a spoonful of curry into her mouth, the spicy warmth stimulating saliva and hunger. The cup was gone in less than ten bites.

"Here's a hunk of biscuit."

Maki wiped up the last of the curry.

Nico nodded, and sat herself next to Maki. "So is this a good spot for stargazing?"

Maki chewed. Nico was leaving. She was here to say goodbye. Maki had been listening for the train ever since Honoka had announced its existence late in the afternoon. Surely tired was what was prickling the corner of her eyes with tears, not this last small moment with Nico.

"Nico has some cookies left when we get back to our horses."

"I don't want cookies."

"Of course you want Nico's cookies. You love them, your daughters love them, Nico…"

"Stop." Maki could hear the train now. "You'd better get going. The train's nearly here."

Nico's eyes had adjusted to the low light. She could read the unhappiness in Maki's expression and turned the Doctor toward her, one hand sweeping up Maki's cheek.

"Don't cry."

"Too tired for this. Leave me alone." Maki growled.

"Lean on Nico."

"You're leaving." An accusation?

No response. Nico seemed to be blinking, biting her lip, thinking. Thinking was a rare look for Nico, Maki realized. Moments of honesty and scheming flashed across Nico's face with a rapidity that made any singular mood difficult to catch. Maki could feel Nico's fingers though, a gentle warmth against her cheek.

"Nico can't leave you."

"I am very capable…"

A brusque, bold press against her lips derailed Maki's argument, stealing her breath.

"Nico?"

Another kiss.

"Wait. Please?"

Nico didn't pull back. Maki could still feel her breath against her lips but that was the only pressure. Nico was kneeling, one hand tangled in Maki's hair, the other sliding behind her neck.

"What about your family?" Maki's heart was racing so fast, Nico was so near, practically sitting in her lap.

"Mama will understand." Nico sounded so calm.

"Huh?" How could there be anything calm about this moment?

"Mama" kiss "will" kiss "understand" kiss "Nico can't leave the smart, pretty, kind doctor and her smart, cute, kind daughters." Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.

Maki's eyelids were fluttering, her exhales were three times as fast as she could take in air, Nico's weight everywhere, the sounds and their surroundings starting to swirl…her fingers gripped Nico's back, pulling her in, holding her tightly, Maki's face hidden in Nico's shoulder while she willed her breaths to slow, her face fever hot.

"Maki?"

Nico sat back. There was space. A break of contact. Maki opened her eyes. Cool. Stars. Nico's smile.

"You're staying? Really?" More prickles as tears dropped to cool the fever of her cheeks.

"Nico is right here." Kiss. Again.

Maki sagged, everything that had happened that day a weight of weary that she had expected to carry alone.

Nico deftly altered their position, adjusting so Maki could lean against her shoulder, Nico's arm keeping her close. There was a whisper, both a promise and a demand.

"Nico is taking care of you now, Maki. Get used to it."

So bold. so silly. So presumptuous. So strong. So warm. Maki had no idea how any of this had happened. Or how Nico had managed to wrap a blanket around them.

The locomotive announced its arrival with a whistle. Maki tensed.

"Right by your side. Not going anywhere without you." Nico pulled her closer, Maki relaxing enough to yawn. "Time to rest, Maki."

Questions and conversations would wait. And that first star Maki just noticed could keep tonight's wish. If you could photograph a feeling, Maki would make a print of this moment, right now, to remember this dizzying, intoxicating sensation as the world tilted Nico-ward and Nico caught her.

A/N:

It's been so difficult to get the characters to cooperate. Or maybe I was the difficult one, considering paths that characters would never take. But I like how this arc wrapped up. I'm planning to eventually continue the story using some of this year's Yeehawgust prompts. Thanks for reading!

[therecordchanger62279]

The 10 Most Influential Debut Records of the Rock Era

It's been, oh, at least three days since I posted a list, so I thought it was time for another one. (I have a list-making gene - which, unfortunately, takes up far too much of my time. But if I don't make the list and post it, I begin showing signs of emotional stress because my brain becomes overloaded with pointless minutiae, and I need to empty it - much like the trash on a computer. Otherwise, my brain begins to operate more slowly, and I'm unable to download my thoughts into words and deeds. The little wheel in my eyeball just goes round and round. My head begins to smoke, and my wife has to unplug me, and call tech support.)

In any case, this is a list I don't actually recall ever seeing anywhere else. I was thinking about how important it is for any musical act to make a great debut record, and if you manage to accomplish that, how incredible that record must be to actually influence or change the direction of popular music your first time out. It would be far more difficult than, say, hitting a grand slam walk-off home run in your first major league at-bat.

When I began compiling the list, I was thinking first about the most influential records ever made, but not many of them were debut records. There are countless lists of influential albums out there, and many more lists of best debut records. But both at once? So, I compiled a list that I think is pretty impressive dating back 60 years - although this list ends with 1980. By then, I think most, if not all popular music's worthwhile changes and growth had happened or had been set in motion, and from that point forward, regression set in. We've reached a point now where there's nothing new under the sun, and we are devolving our way to some landfill in New Jersey keeping company with six-pack plastic rings, and styrofoam cups.

The list is in roughly chronological order, and I'll add a few comments after each in an effort to defend my choices.

Meet The Beatles - The Beatles (1964) Not technically their debut, you scream? Well, I don't live in the UK. This was the US debut record, and I would argue that if The Beatles had never made it in America, they would've come and gone like last week's latest Rap sensation. This is ground zero, and I'll accept no substitutes.

Freak Out - The Mothers of Invention (1966) Even today, it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that a record like this existed in 1966. It opened up the whole world of record making to the avant-garde, and a whole new audience. No restrictions. No rules. From that day forward - bring it!

The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967) Do I really need to argue The Velvets influence at this point to anyone?

Music From Big Pink - The Band (1968) Eric Clapton left Cream because of a Rolling Stone review, and this album. Back to basics. You could argue it was the first "Americana" album long before they had a name for it.

Santana (1969) America and most of the world had not heard anything before like this marriage of Rock, Jazz, and Latin music, and it was there as if it was the most natural thing in the world - and maybe it was.

In The Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson (1969) The invention of Progressive Rock, and the influence of Folk, and Classical on the sound of Rock thereafter.

Black Sabbath (1970) The invention of Heavy Metal, and the importance of riffing, and a noise like laying down on a railroad track with a train bearing down on your exploding head.

Horses - Patti Smith (1975) Poetry fused with Rock 'N' Roll wrapped in a feminist sensibility, and an attitude that if you aren't saying something important, why speak at all?

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977) Some would argue The Ramones debut mattered more, but their debut was largely ignored except by critics, and the NY club crowd. It was The Pistols that fired the Punk shot heard 'round the world. Rock's last gasp, and then there was.....

The Sugarhill Gang (1980) The single, Rapper's Delight was released in the late summer of '79. If they had not followed up with a full-length album, it might've been viewed as a novelty hit. Instead it was the birth of Rap which would eventually overwhelm Rock as the most popular music of the day.

[sirduck48]

I saw a post where someone had submitted their headcanons of Duck, if you don’t mind, I have a few for my human AU, I don’t have a lot, and I’m still working them out. What do you think?

- Duck’s pocket watch belonged to his grandfather and was passed down to his father and then to him. It is said that it is the most accurate watch on the railroad. (My dad told me that back in the day, all the workers on the railway would have their watches specially cleaned and maintained and set at the same time so they’re all accurate, my dad has my great grandfather’s pocket watch that he used on the railway.)

-Duck’s big dream for when he retires is to settle down and buy a sailboat and sail the world. He likes to watch other people’s boats in the harbor while he smokes and watch them struggle with it, (his favorite was watching the couple argue over their big expensive sailboat because they parked it in the shallows not realizing that the tide was going to go out, and the boat was just going to roll onto its side onto the rocks.) Duck’s not quite sure if he would want to spend so much money on a sailboat when he can only use it for part of the year. It’s also one of those cases where the stuff for the boat is more expensive that the actual boat.

-do not put Duck and Diesel in a room together, you are asking for trouble. That, and Diesel’s idea of a shower is a can of body spray which stinks so bad.

-one time Duck complained to sir Topham Hatt about Diesel’s “hygiene” in hopes that Diesel would get written up forcing him to take a bath. Diesel did, and Duck’s reward was getting a can of body spray with a zip tie on the nozzle hurled into his engine’s cab as he drove by gassing him out.

(Diesel still never took a bath)

-Duck has a few living siblings, he’s from a big family but isn’t really close with them.

-Duck got Polio when he was a child that effected his left leg. He can walk now, just with an elbow crutch and has a brace on his leg with a raised sole. Because of this, he tends to waddle when he walks and can’t climb stairs very well. And he often likes to hit people with his crutch when they don’t do their work or are getting on his nerves.

Hope you don’t mind if I tell you my headcanons. Sorry if this isn’t what the ask button was for.

No I don’t mind at all! I’m actually really enjoying reading people’s headcanons and adding my own opinions. The ask button is definitely for things like this.

I absolutely agree with the first one, it makes perfect sense for the most orderly and punctual individual to have a perfectly timed pocket watch. I think that Duck has a lot of things passed down from his grandad, and he keeps them all in perfect condition.

I also agree with the second one. While I personally don’t think that Duck smokes, I think that Diesel does, and it tends to be something that causes friction between the two since Duck doesn’t appreciate the smell, the excessive coughing it causes, or the fact that it stains your clothes and teeth. Going back to the main point, I do agree that he would want to sail when he retires, but he tends to overthink on whether it is worth it since he could only use it for limited parts of the year, and the things needed for the boat is more expensive than the actual boat. For now, he goes on sailing trips whenever he has time off, and even has quite a bit of knowledge about it. He absolutely loves watching people struggle with the boats, and can easily tell if someone doesn’t know what they are doing. His favourite is definitely snobbish couples buying big, expensive boats and not knowing how to work them, he always finds himself chuckling while watching them.

For the third one, I also agree. Diesel loves winding people up, and he finds Duck’s reactions highly amusing. Duck finds Diesel to be an arrogant, immodest, improper individual who needs to learn a great deal about self dignity. As for the smell part, I think that Diesel smells of cigarette smoke and oil. I think that Duck is highly sensitive to smells due to his sensory issues, so these smells immediately make him very uncomfortable.

Duck definitely complained about Diesel’s smell, and so did the big engines. As for the throwing the body spray into Duck’s cab, wouldn’t that explode since deodorant is highly flammable and there is an open fire box in the cab? Personally, I think that Diesel instead decided to take his cigarette break (breaks that he decides when to have, much to the annoyance of The Fat Controller) right next to Duck and “accidentally” blow cigarette smoke in his face, causing Duck to shout at him. Not caring or listening in the slightest, Diesel just laughed and walked off, much to the fury of Duck. And no, he never took that bath that he was ordered to have.

For the fifth one, I personally think that Duck is an only child. I do think that he has quite a few cousins though. I would say that he is from a medium sized family, and apart from at Christmas, he doesn’t really see them very much. Partially due to him being so busy, and partially due to some of his family not really knowing much about him. He is very close with his parents and grandparents though, and has a great amount of respect for them, especially his grandad.

Finally, for the sixth one, I personally think that Duck’s waddle is due to him struggling with spacial awareness and how his body moves and takes up space (I do hope that that makes sense). I also think that he is hypermobile (which is a reason, as well as his autism, for his struggle with balance), which causes his joints and muscles to stiffen and/or ache. His joints also click a lot, and he sometimes needs to click them or stretch them otherwise they feel stiff and he feels uncomfortable. He can still do his usual activities, but sometimes he needs breaks. I do think that he has a cane, and he definitely loves to hit people with it if they are getting on his nerves or not doing what they should be doing. He has a cane to help with his balance and stability, and he has a large collection of canes, even a few with duck heads on them to match with his name (his canes are practical and classy at the same time). I do still like your headcanon though, and I’m sure that it is one that I have seen from someone else as well.

These are all just my opinion.

[fantasyfantasygames]

Illustrated Primer

Illustrated Primer, Market Drift Games, 2005

If you're thinking of the title of The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, you are right on target. Illustrated Primer is a mid-future game, set between a Neuromancer near-future and a Star Trek far future.

The personal-level setup is a family of women being pulled into a story that's always bigger than they realize, until they can turn the tables on the big players and take control of their own story. This happens against a backdrop of a massive technological shift - AI, nanotech, bioengineering, neural interfaces, all happening at once and reinforcing one another.

Your character has a set of base stats, randomly determined "straight down the line". They have a randomly determined background that sets skills and resources. It's all pretty swingy - you might be a rich, young, highly skilled woman or a great-grandmother with nothing left but memories. It's up to you to stitch all those random backgrounds together into a unique family story of marriage, divorce, estrangement, love, and adoptions.

If you're not a fan of chargen that's random to that level, the good news is that they hardly matter. It's the tech trees that determine your real abilities. At the beginning of the game, only a few enhancements are open. As the game goes on, the GM opens up different parts of the tech tree based on in-game events. Your characters are likely to be involved in developing some of the tech. Other pieces will be opened up as individuals and corporations around the world release their discoveries.

Your character's motivations and personal limits are key, especially because this amazing, powerful, immature technology has side-effects and drawbacks. Some even let you choose - are you going to take the dexterity reduction from the bulk, the stealth penalty from the heat signature, or the charisma penalty from the nervous system hijack? The best part - what's the only part of character creation that isn't random? Your motivations and personal limits. What does the XP system let you change? Motivations and personal limits.

The game book is somewhat reminiscent of the book for the Die RPG but in black-and-white. The art is not quite as fantastic, but quite good. There are a few iconic characters who appear multiple times. The layout is fairly standard. I feel like it might benefit from an update with a more avant-garde approach.

The system uses a d6 dice pool fairly similar to Open D6. It tones down the all-out craziness of the Wild Die, requiring extra 6s or 1s before the critical hits/fails kick in. It uses the roll's total for success, and a target number system to trigger enhanced successes based on tech powers or charge up higher-powered abilities.

All in all I'm a big fan of the game. It tells a specific, wide-spanning but character-focused story, with enough flexibility that it doesn't feel railroaded or forced. The tech tree is expansive enough to make every character unique. Most of the tech is at least plausible. All in all, a definite win for Market Drift Games.

I have another game with this name waaaay down my review queue, so we might get to that some day. It's a much more pastel kind of game, but equal amounts of... calling it "girl power" feels dismissive, but that's because people dismiss girls and women. Anyway, it's fun, and I hope I get to review it eventually.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jesse Duquette, The Daily Don   ::  [Scott Horton]

* * * *

How Murdoch steamrolled Tucker

LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV ::  APR 25, 2023

Rupert Murdoch is 92 years old, and everyone just finished making fun of his brief engagement to conservative radio host Lesley Ann Smith, the ex-wife of California railroad heir John B. Huntington.  The engagement lasted just two weeks.  Murdoch has been married four times, the last time to Jerry Hall, model and ex-wife of Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger.  That marriage lasted six years.  Murdoch reportedly told Hall he was divorcing her in an email.

Murdoch’s marital history is particularly interesting when you consider his recent divorce from Fox host Tucker Carlson.  That’s the way I think of Carlson’s departure from his seven-year career at Fox.  When Rupert decides it’s over, it’s over.  Here’s an excerpt from his email to his former wife: “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage,” The Guardian reported. “We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do.”

You get that?  It was good while it lasted, six years with those cameras flashing at the world’s wealthiest media-mogul with his supermodel on his arm, but now he was finished.  Moving on.  Busy man.

You don’t want to get on the bad side of Rupert Murdoch.  You don’t even want to be on his good side, because as his marriages and latest engagement prove, once he decides it’s time to pull the ripcord, you’re in the wind.

It’s been the same with his business empire.  It’s easy to forget that Murdoch was once just an Australian newspaper owner with big eyes to get off that gigantic island-continent and make his way in the wider world.  His first big move, way back in the 60’s, was to expand into Great Britain, buying the News of the World and the Sun.  Next was New York City, where he established a beachhead in 1976 by buying New York Magazine and the Village Voice in a hostile takeover.  I wrote about that battle for the late-lamented New Times magazine, and I have to say that I watched slack jawed as Murdoch steamrolled Clay Felker, the magazine genius who had created New York Magazine and then combined it with the downtown alternative paper I had worked for, the Voice.  Murdoch charmed, threatened, and walked over or past the board of New York Magazine, getting one after another of them on his side until he was able to, in a single sweep of paperwork and investment banking magic, make Felker’s mini-empire his.  The New York Post was next, followed by his purchase of the prestigious London broadsheet, The Times.

He became an American citizen in 1985 and set out on another buying spree, this time buying Twentieth Century Fox.  He used the Fox brand to buy up a small television network, Metromedia, which he transformed into the Fox channel.  In the early 90’s, the Fox channel began carrying original programing.  Then he formed the British broadcasting company, BSkyB.  In 1996, Murdoch started Fox News on cable, and in 2007, his holding company, News Corporation, bought the Wall Street Journal, which he had coveted since the days when he took over New York Magazine.

If you owned anything that published in print, made movies for the big screen, or broadcast shows on network or cable television, you were a target.  Murdoch hit more than he missed.  By last year, he was worth $21.7 billion and was the world’s 31st wealthiest man.  

Fox News became a cash cow for the Murdoch empire, taking in about $12 billion a year in recent years.  It’s money Murdoch earned by feeding a ravenous horde of conservative viewers a steady diet of right-wing red meat around the clock.  Fox News long ago ceased being a real news network and simply went into the business of raw propaganda with its wink-and-a-nod motto, “Fair and Balanced.”

Tucker Carlson became one of the channel’s biggest revenue generators with his nightly spew of conspiracy theories, racist garbage like “the great replacement theory,” paeons to authoritarianism with his worship of Hungary’s Victor Orban – Carlson even took his show there for an entire week in 2021, and produced a rabidly antisemitic documentary on the country last year called “Hungary vs. Soros: Fight for Civilization.”

All of this was fine and dandy for Rupert Murdoch as long as Tucker kept the bucks coming.  Carlson warmly embraced Trump’s Big Lie, beginning when Trump lost the election in 2020.  The Big Lie was a feature of his show almost nightly for the next two-plus years.  Carlson’s show featured many of the right-wing loons who made the allegations against Dominion Voting Systems that were defamatory – Rudolph Giuliani, Sidney Powell and many others.  Tucker sat there and listened to them spew their lies night after night, nodding and giving his patented look of puzzled curiosity.  But asking questions and looking puzzled wasn’t a defense when Dominion sued for defamation.  That lawsuit ended up costing Murdoch a whole lot of money, $787.5 million to be exact, when Fox News settled the suit without a court fight last week.

There has been a ton of speculation about why Carlson was fired yesterday morning, much of it settling on emails written by Carlson that were revealed by the Dominion suit.  Many of his emails were embarrassing to the network, and thus to Murdoch, as Carlson wrote repeatedly that he didn’t believe a word of the garbage he was putting out on his show about the Big Lie that Trump won the election.

The L.A. Times reported yesterday that sources inside Fox say that Murdoch himself was upset by some of Carlson’s emails that were not released by the Dominion lawsuit because they didn’t bear on its defamation claim.  These emails instead gave an insight into what Carlson thought about Fox management, according to the L.A. Times.

“Fox management” is one man:  Rupert Murdoch.  Carlson is said to have written some nasty stuff about lesser Fox figures such as CEO Suzanne Scott.  Murdoch doesn’t care about Suzanne Scott.  He doesn’t care if Tucker Carlson thinks Scott is incompetent or unlikable.  What Rupert Murdoch cares about is being considered a Big Man Media Mogul and making money.

The Dominion lawsuit, much of it caused by the statements made on Carlson’s nightly show, brought Murdoch low in the eyes of his Big Man Media Mogul contemporaries, the guys – and they’re almost all guys – who show up every year at Herbert Allen’s Sun Valley Conference of media Big Men.  It’s a kind of summer camp in the mountains of Idaho for media moguls, among whom Murdoch was arguably the biggest.  Herbert Allen is the CEO of the investment bank, Allen & Company.  Murdoch goes way back with Herbert Allen and his investment bank.  He and his company handled Murdoch’s takeover of New York Magazine way back in 1976.  Murdoch doesn’t like it when you do something that lowers him in the eyes of “Herbie” Allen, as he is called, or any of the other media Big Men.

And he especially doesn’t like it when he can put a name on a loss of $787.5 million.  That name is Tucker Carlson, who thought that he was a Big Man because of the adoring hordes who watched his show every night and the millions he was paid for attracting them.  But he wasn’t a Big Man.  He was a worker bee in the sprawling Murdoch media empire, and now he’s a worker bee who got squashed by the Murdoch steamroller, as so many have been squashed before him.

Murdoch still owns the Fox empire.  Tucker Carlson owns his trust fund check as an heir to Swanson Frozen Foods, however much he managed to put away when he was riding high in the 8 o’clock slot on Fox News, and whatever he can squeeze out of Fox in his so-called exit package.  And he owns the stack of bills that are piling up from lawyers representing him in the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Fox producer Abby Grossman, because there is no doubt that in firing him, Rupert Murdoch severed Fox from Carlson in the Grossman lawsuit and is no longer paying his legal bills.

I often see businessmen like Murdoch referred to in the press as killers.  But Murdoch isn’t a killer.  He’s a taker.  He sees something he thinks he wants, like a magazine or a newspaper or a studio or a network, and he takes it and then he takes all the money it brings in.

Murdoch paid the legal fees for his four ex-wives, but he wasn’t married to Tucker Carlson.  Murdoch was once his employer, and he was happy to take the money Tucker earned for him, but he’s a busy man, and he moved on.

[Lucian Truscott Newsletter]

[golden-spike]

How ya feel about Greaseball?

[audio in the future]

Rolling Stock Review

Union Pacific's Pacific Daylight "Greaseball" the passenger diesel.

In 1971, the City of Los Angeles took his last trip. That last trip was the final trip for all Union Pacific Passenger trains. Only two years after my manufacture.

Decades later on the company's 150th anniversary we were all told big things were happening. Every decade a new piece of rolling stock was ceremoniously given to me for my service as Yardmaster. However, ever time it had been a coach. I was not looking forward to this and I was already irritated by my company's insistence of giving me coaches. When Pacific Daylight was unveiled I had to hold back my reaction. An engine but not just any engine but a twin motor passenger diesel. He was and is absolutely beautiful. Built with be best masculine curves and a voice perfect for a diesel's ears. Passenger service as a whole had just been reborn with him and I knew it then.

His frame was an upgrade to the DDA40x model, resolving issues that we had such as shearing bolts on our fuel tanks, inner frame bending, and buckling struts. His styling was a call back to the streamlined diesels of yesteryear to inspire people to ride the rails again. He not only was seriously strong but seriously fast without a sacrifice to the smoothness of the ride.

The company didn't give him his passenger train in the beginning. They focused on testing his AI and seeing if the code needed any further updating since the passenger engine lineage of code was decades old despite the newer code that was injected to bring it up to current standard. Once he proves himself, his coaches Affogato, Aurora, and Solara were given to him.

The company had him race early on to show that Union Pacific was still the best of the breed. A title we earned long ago. These races and competitions became important to him. It was how he made an identity for himself beyond 'Golden Spike's Lieutenant'. I prayed to Starlight for his safety every day and when he raced I prayed every hour.

He easily pulled in people with his charisma like a great storm. They revolved around him. Coaches and engines. They became his gang of diesels and his gossip crew of coaches. It was adorable. He learned how to do the coaches hair and was an absolute sweetheart. He cleaned their carriages and carried supplies to their carriages. He made sure that his closest gang engines were always well fueled. I frequently saw him and his favorite three freight haulers hug and kiss before they left the yard.

He always picked Dinah as his coach for races. Taught her how to defend herself and how to fight. Punches and kicks in races are not cheating. It is allowed and part of the spectacle for the humans we do this for. Competitions were simply another way for railroads to make money. Everything is about money. We are all children of profit. The moment we are not profitable, we are done for.

Greaseball always worked hard and when he didn't pull passengers he would volunteer to pull freight in a lash up with his gang members. I wish every engine was as wonderful as he. I am absolutely honored to have had him as mine.

[spockandawe]

@curlicuecal tagged me into the post meme about ten songs! I'll go ahead and post ten songs by ten artists that I've been particularly fixated on lately, it's all personal bias all the way down, babey

Colm McGuinness: Sleeping In The Cold Below - Let's start off with a representative sample, my head is filled with folk and filk and irish and shanties, just check out this artist for a clear breakdown of my tastes, because I could fill out the whole list with just this man's work. Musically speaking, if I could grow up to be anyone, it would be HIM. I yearn so hard for his instrument collection and vocal range, even if I'm operating in different octaves.

Malinda: Dúlamán - Feels slightly like cheating, because I'm fairly sure I found her through Colm McGuinness (the Hoist The Colors collab), but god, her voice is DIVINE, and she's got a fantastic balance of trad covers and newer music. Songs in gaelic can be tricky to rec, even if I'm about to do it again, but some of them just have so much bewitching LIFE that I can't resist.

Celtic Woman: Téir Abhaile Riú - I have to tell you, it was both disorienting and delightful when this started getting used as a sound in tiktoks. The short excerpt is good, but the whole song is so much fun! I know it's kind of redundant to talk up Irish songs as being catchy as hell, but this is really such a good one.

The Longest Johns: On The Railroad - Speaking of catchy... I'm a basic binch, give me a train song that sounds like a train, and I'm all over that to an embarrassing degree. Skimbleshanks isn't going to be on here, but only because it'd be cheating, I wasn't thinking about it until I started thinking about why I like this. And you get a train song that's ALSO a work song? Hell yes, gimme

Great Big Sea: Process Man - I agonized over what Great Big Sea song to include (old black rum? donkey riding? excursion around the bay?) but this is truly such a classic, it's so catchy and memorable. And it's great if you're feeling like an exploited #resource at your day job!

The High Kings: McAlpine's Fusiliers - Speaking of being an exploited, expendable resource, ONE LAST IRISH SONG. But I can't leave this out! The High Kings are so good, but McAlpine's Fusiliers is the CATCHIEST melody line by any artist. I am typing slowly because I have no choice to sing along since I opened the video to get the url, send help

Hozier: The Humours Of Whiskey - You know I really intended to have other flavors of music on here too, but. Again, the song is too catchy for me to resist. This is only a partial cover of the full song, because he's just doing it offhand. But his voice is so perfect and the delivery so flawless, I live for this 52 second clip, haha

Delta Rae: Bottom Of The River - Technically I am showing a little more range than previous entries have done, but uh, I know that's only barely/technically true. But there's so much good stuff in this weird corner! And my mainest criteria for how much I like music is how fun it is to sing along, and this is seriously peak singalong content.

The Merry Wives Of Windsor: Siuil A Run: Oh no, another gaelic title. But it's also partly in english, and this is another song I'll listen to by anyone who covers it, and another group where I'll listen to any music they produce! I recommend their entire back catalog, very strongly. Fair warning they have a notable bawdy portion of their catalog, but I'm being good and not linking something like 'come roll me away,' or 'the cockerel song,' so you can listen without fear. But they are SUCH a fun group, I love them to bits.

Mary Black: Colcannon - Ah, screw it, I have a brand. Let's wrap it up with a song that's literally about potatoes! Also an impossibly catchy melody. This song has been stuck in my head since it absolutely Ruined me with homesickness back in grad school. And you know what, I'm also linking this bonus version with worse audio, but it's a 1986 recording of the black family on tv. There's just something about watching irish singing that makes me LIVE.

--

oh no, tagging people. I'm chickening out, sorry. If you want to do it and point your finger at me, go for it! but it's been a long week and I contracted a bad case of the Shy it looks like