#Muwahaha~

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

Yes Wind! Castle Town would be great place for a lake :D

From this post of @crazylittlejester’s!!

[martincrushcameback]

I love the holiday episode because it's like

Zach: I WILL MAKE A BLAND METAL TREE AND SELL ROBOT TOYS!!

Donita: I WILL KIDNAP ANIMALS TO MAKE ORNAMENTS AND SELL BEDAZZLED JUMPSUITS!

And meanwhile Gourmand is like: I baked eleventymillion NORMAL cookies! :DDDD

[oneluckydragon]

“Fool me once, Dusknoir. Fool me twice?” Echo supplies, ice in the bite of her voice, “And you’ll regret it.”

--- --- --- --- ---

ECHO : (Hero)

Abilities: Bad Dreams / Synchronization

Nature: Impish / Quiet

Moveset: Dark Void / Psychic / Alluring Voice / Moonlight

[kdval]

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

› OC: Ha'al a.k.a. Pale Man [7/?]

[s1ushyz]

When the song,band, and album are so good I just HAD to gatekeep.

[windsandwaves]

Winds and Waves Session 7

One of the best things about being a DM and a writer is getting to do foreshadowing… This whole scene from Session 7 between Aeroki and Akuji (two of my NPCs) is possibly one of the best examples of that.

The absolute INSANE amount of foreshadowing in this interaction! Let me break it down:

Akuji calls Aeroki “Your highness”, referring to his title as king of Maya. Immediately Aeroki humbles himself,

“You needn’t call me that… In the Goddess of Fate’s grand tapestry, I am far beneath a Reaper.”

“It is a title of respect. One that you have more than earned in the eyes of the Raven Queen herself.”

The king mutters something to himself quietly,

“Gotten, ich wünschte ich glaube das auch.”

(Gods, I wish I could believe that too)

This is of course referring to the fact that Aeroki doesn’t believe the Gods care about him, and moreover the fact Aeroki feels betrayed by the Gods in general. When Akuji soothes that even The Raven Queen still respects Aeroki, and that Aeroki has earned his place as king of Maya, Aeroki basically flat out rejects the sympathy.

When Akuji tries again to reassure Aeroki that the Raven Queen will protect Coral and her friends on their journey, Aeroki once again scoffs, because The Raven Queen is the Goddess of Death and therefore her ‘protection’ is a death sentence. Akuji immediately stiffens and retorts,

“Death has existed as long as mortals have lived, long before the Raven Queen even gained her own godhood.” He replies almost sternly, defensively. “We do not cause the deaths to occur, we simply collect the lost souls and lay them to rest…”

Death has existed long before the Raven Queen, because it was The Vulture who once commanded death. The Raven Queen herself used to be a mortal. Once The Vulture fell from his place in the Pantheon and disappeared, the Raven Queen took his place, but the balance between life and death has been broken ever since.

“You know this, Aeroki. You have seen it for yourself.”

After adopting Coral, Aeroki briefly worked alongside Akuji, helping the Reaper to collect lost souls and rescue any survivors, as self-inflicted penance for his crime of summoning The Lich King. But this is also an incriminating statement, suggesting that Aeroki knows more about the Vulture’s downfall.

“And that is precisely why I cannot let Coral leave Maya… There are many great evils in the world...”

“But, if you do not let her explore the world for herself, how will she ever learn to protect herself against those evils? How will she gain the courage to fight against her own?”

The line, “How will she gain the courage to fight against her own? (evils)” is a direct reference to the fact that Akuji knows about Coral’s curse, as well as how to stop it. He is basically saying, “You have been way too overprotective and Coral is suffering from it. She needs to go out and live her life to the fullest before the curse completely consumes her. Akuji is once more encouraging Aeroki to let Coral and the others find The Heart of the Sea here, because he knows that it can help her.

Aeroki sighs. “You’re right… I know I cannot keep her sheltered here forever… But is it really selfish of me to want to try?”

Oh, my son. He wants to keep his daughters safe from harm, and in his mind Maya is the safe haven that he built for them. And yet, he knows that every bird must leave the nest eventually. He knows deep down that he has to let Coral and Fringille go. And what’s worse is he realizes that the best way to protect them is by sending them away from himself.

“You have already thought long and hard about this choice… Why, then, did you come to see me?”

“Because you know…”

“You know better than anyone why I cannot let her go.”

He’s trying to prove to himself that he can let Coral and Fringille spread their own wings and be on their own, and yet, he also doesn’t want to lose the only family he has left.

“But you must. She must. The darkness…”

AKUJI KNOWS. AKUJI KNOWS THAT AEROKI HAS NO SOUL. HE KNOWS ABOUT THE CURSE. But AEROKI DOESNT KNOW HE KNOWS.

Remember, Aeroki was convinced that if Akuji ever found out that he was The Fallen Champion, Akuji would have to kill him.

Akuji is basically admitting that he knows about Aeroki’s curse as well. That’s why Aeroki gets so freaked out here.

Then the rest is just Akuji and Aeroki basically making excuses to end the conversation and do their separate shady business, but all the same Akuji reassures Aeroki that he is always welcome in the Raven Queen’s Court… Don’t forget that.

“Thank you Akuji. I won’t forget that.”

Pause. Fast forward to Session 66:

“No, I guess I didn’t think at all.”

He forgot. Aeroki forgot that Akuji basically promised to be there for him no matter what, because he was convinced by his own anxiety that Akuji would literally kill him if he ever knew the truth about what Aeroki did…

But as this entire passage shows, Akuji already knew, and he offered Aeroki his protection anyway.

[palaceofpassion]

Blind Date

“Nora, this is a dumb idea.”  Jaune couldn’t shake the nerves that boggled his mind, and the jitters that toiled his tummy.  

“What?!  NO it’s not!”  Nora, Jaune’s only real friend, stopped her fretting, her hands tugging at the well polished suit she’d helped him put on just moments ago.  “She’ll love you!  You’re awesome Jauney!”  

He rolled his eyes, highly doubt her statement, then again, Nora did have a way with knowing how things would turn out.  “I just... a blind date, really?  Shouldn’t I at least get to know her?”  

“Nope!”  The spunky shortstack gave him a quick shake of the head, a smile on her lips as she patted him across the shoulder, “Renny said his friend’s finally ready to try going back into the field now that she’s finally over her last ex.”  

“Uh huh.”  He normally would have felt like a rebound date, but from what little he knew of this girl, apparently it had been a month and a half since her break up, and she really was looking for someone.  “And why me exactly?”

“Well, you’re not at all like her ex...”  There was a quick growl in her throat, though Jaune didn’t know many of Nora’s extended friends, other than her boyfriend Ren, he trusted his half sister well enough.

“I... is that a good thing?”  

“Well you don’t flirt with everyone on first sight!  Except you know... from back then...”

He blinked a little, he didn’t flirt with anyone well... except for that one time.  He flushed, remembering his middle schooler phase, the wild thoughts of fantasy that filled his mind.  “Why did you have to remind me?”  

Truthfully he couldn’t blame the girl for turning him down, he had made a huge spectacle of the moment, and he’d been rather... extra about it.  

“Look, just talk to her, get to know her, and I’m sure it’ll work out.”

He let out a subtle sigh, “Alright... well how do I look?”  

He pulled away, running his fingers through his nicely brushed hair, his bangs removed from his eyes.  Slowly he tugged at the collar of his button’d shirt and gave her a winning smile.

“Like a million Lien!  You got this Jaune.”  

He nodded, he wasn’t sure how well he had this... but he was interested in meeting new people.  

So he was off, earlier than the appointed time... he didn’t want to be late after all.  The place itself was nice, it wasn’t overly classy nor was it a bargain bin either.  Having taken the assigned seat he simply had to wait, till he heard the most delightful of voices. “Hello?  I don’t suppose you’re my date, are you?”  

His head turned to the side, and he was struck with the most beautiful of sights, but at the same time, felt a pit of horror in his belly-

[angelthingy]

sorry for being narrow minded but i love having a superiority complex about my relationship actually ^_^

[pagetreader]

@ve1ljumpers {x}

The reputation of the A.ntivan Crows was immensely notorious and expanded far beyond the borders of E.ssos. After the near successful attempt on the Queen's life had resulted in a wounded M.ssandei and the death of six of her U.nsullied, it'd been clear that Daenerys was in dire need of their skills, especially if S.laver's Bay had any hope of remaining liberated.

While the ranking system was unfamiliar to her, Fifth Talon V.iago de Riva had assured her they'd sent their best.

L.ucanis D.ellamorte was known as The Demon of V.yrantium, a fearsome moniker that was already causing the uprising of the S.ons of the H.arpy to diminish. They were afraid, and perhaps with good reason. Still, she wouldn't dare believe herself safe until her enemies were either imprisoned or dead.

He was quartered in the chambers beside hers, with a connecting entrance that would make it easy for him to slip in at a moment's notice. Unable to sleep, Daenerys had noticed the candlelight illuminating the sliver of space beneath the door. All night, the light flickered, never extinguishing. That's how she'd known he'd never gone to bed.

"Neither did you," he accused without lifting his head, "Care to explain?"

Taken aback by his astute observation, she shook her head, "I suppose I've too much on my mind..."

The whittled swan in his hands appeared to be what had kept him occupied all those hours.

"It's lovely," she said, gesturing to the woodwork, "Is this what you do when you aren't slitting throats?"

The question had been genuine, not at all meant to insult his line of work, no matter how off putting it might have been.

[2h3llandb4ck]

CW/TW: implied emetophobia

Apology Tour was certainly an episode…!

I didn’t like it at all. It’s a huge Stolas pity party the whole way through.

So I decided to write a little smth smth! (Ft my oc Raya Lawrence <3)

This was inspired by a villain Stolas post by @pinkandpurple360 !)

.

.

.

.

“Here. Have some cake…” Verosika shoved Blitz a pity plate of cake. It looked like a heart bleeding black jelly “blood”. She stood up from watching over the party and walked away, intending to walk back downstairs for another song.

The succubus stopped at the first step down, suddenly feeling her head reel. She made eye contact with the Goetia owl Stolas. His eyes, which looked like a total solar eclipse, bore into hers menacingly. He gave her a look, as if to tell her, “good girl”. Verosika suppressed a nauseous gag and gave a painful smile. As soon as Stolas went back to toying with that demon, she sprinted into the bathroom across the hallway.

“Wait… shxt!” Raya squirmed as she set down her 3rd shot glass. “What happened?” A partygoer asked the demonologist. “Forgot my phone in the bathroom. Be right back…” The blonde ruffled her skirt and speed-walked up the stairs.

“UGH…! Shxt… just for how much longer…” Verosika coughed, her head shaking and offering above the sink. Raya silently squeaked open the door, and her eyes widened in horror…

The sight of wet, pitch-black feathers trailing from the succubus’ mouth was haunting. But nothing could compare to the shrill sounds of tiny giggles and compliments for the owl prince coming from said feathers.

[theshiningcrusader]

peak reason for getting tumblr is now people want me to draw pocket. I could not be happier

[cosybunny]

*crawls out of a hole in the dirt* oh my god that was awful. there's so much depression down there. and piles of mismatched socks. thought i'd never find the exit. now where was I?

[fern-hounds]

Osrí: Where life goes, so should you! Joined the Vigil and it shows. Always headfirst into helping others, you never have to worry about dull moments. To travel the world, explore, and chase adventure are all on your to-do list; and the sun's only been up for two hours. Boundless freedom to do anything, go anywhere, and drink in what life has to offer. But at the end of the day home is where the heart is, and to be by your side through the night is where you'll find him.

6'3 (191 cm) ⟡ Ranger ⟡ He/Him

Ostír: Act with wisdom, but act! Whisper agent, but keep that a secret. More reserved than his brothers, he might come off as being the shy one. He's confident with making decisions, but you notice he's more of a wallflower around you. Tends to linger by and quietly dotes. He'll pick up things like your favorite drinks and books without you having to mention them, and is a notorious gift giver.

6'3 (191 cm) ⟡ Ranger ⟡ He/Him

Oisín: All things have a right to grow! In the Durmand Priory, having fun isn't hard when you got your library card. Your ideal date is info dumping about animal and plant facts to each other. His golden retriever energy and boundless optimism is what probably won you over, and you know it. Tall, sweet, and always ready to brighten up your day with some good news, just like how you brighten his day when he sees you.

6'3 (191 cm) ⟡ Ranger ⟡ He/Him

[rusty-gloinks]

Hey, I’m curious, what are your thoughts on Uzi’s dad? Everyone else I talk to seems to hate him, but you seem neutral about him? Spill the tea :3

People actually dislike khan still? I mean, i can see why, but he’s made up for his actions!

I like Khan a lot as a character, he has gone through subtle changes throughout the episodes which surely can be noticed.

During the pilot, we all know he’s a bit narcissistic as he only seems to care about his ‘doors’. Especially when he chooses to hide over protecting his daughter from the murder drones. But he uses doors to cope as they’re like a memorabilia of Nori! Since she’s the one who wanted to build doors to protect her family from the "sky demons" as she called them according to Khan in episode 4. Also you can tell how much he loved his wife which I personally think is absolutely adorable. He stepped out of his way to help his wife stay safe and feel protected, even though he might’ve thought she was crazy.

each episode he improves! We’ve got the pilot, where he’s inconsiderate and timid, episode 2 during the PTA thing where he says something along the lines of "Call her damaged again, and I’ll install a door on your face!" (Going back to where I say his doors are used to cope with his loss of Nori, which must have significant meaning.) episode 3 where he tries to make up to Uzi by giving her "real friends" and such, making her more annoyed, and then feeling bad about it. Also one scene where he tries to save his daughter but sadly cannot, and episode 4, where he wants to help and support Uzi by giving her stuff to help on her quest (or whatever you’d like to call it.)

TLDR: i think he’s a good character, and deserves a second chance. as per what I think he’s now trying to achieve by slowly earning Uzi’s trust.

[my-fortified-wager]

IPC Report // All or Nothing: The Case of the Emerald Gemstone Casino

In the beginning, you've lost everything you stand for... and in the end, you stand for nothing. -- The Emerald Attendant, Vita

Report 23943, this is Avarice Jade, reporting on the recently reopened Emerald Gemstone Massacre case. With the assistance of nameless underlings, we've put a close to a case gone cold since the day it occurred. Thus, here is the report of this case's events in full as it all went down.

Our case started twenty years prior with a murderer known as The Dire Balemoon.

Twenty years prior, there was a murderer who had terrorized the streets of the rich, killing abusive rich figures in power and spreading their money among the poor and less fortunate. A murderous terrorizer by night, many wondered what they were like in their private life... and thus comes the short answer. For more detail, I would suggest rereading Report 21493, the Snow Plains Murder Case. Our infamous Dire Balemoon was a father in the daytime, taking care of displaced orphans due to the corrupted systemic rules. Many of these children were to be sold to rich households, looking for extra hands for things like labor and miscellaneous deeds. Our killer would kill those seeking such, and take the affected orphans in as her own. In the Report, I mentioned a list of children's names she had kept, and today I wish to highlight a child whose name was on this list.

Vita.

A young 7-year-old boy with dusty brown hair and gorgeous, striking purple and teal eyes, and a talent for defying society in a seemingly never-ending luck strike. At the time, I thought nothing of him, nor did I think anything of the other names, like Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet.

We would never come to catch the Dire Balemoon, for she would come to us, for a business partnership. She would cease her... aggressive activity and only act on requests from the IPC, if we were to crack down on corrupt lawmakers and trafficking schemes, such as the ones she dealt with. In this agreement, she would support and care for any orphans who happened to come her way, and continue to act as if she were their "father".

Naturally, I wanted to agree to such terms. I held a certain distaste for such people to begin with, and our interests aligned in similar goals. We had nothing to lose from this deal. Unfortunately, this cooperation would come to an end before we could give an answer with the sudden death of the Dire Balemoon at the hands of royal execution.

That was where we believed that case would end. Little did we know, it would be connected almost twenty years later.

Fast forward ten years from the Dire Balemoon's case, our current era killer would be 17 years old and taken in by the prior Authority of Will, a nameless elder man. There, this boy would then become his right hand, the Emerald Assistant. He would work to entertain and garner the attention of various guests. However, the boy's freckles and frizzy dusted brown hair would leave some guests with bad impressions, calling the boy filthy and messy, causing the casino to lose revenue. To counter this, the prior Authority of Will made the boy wear makeup and dye his hair to look more appealing to customers. Although not happy, the boy reluctantly agreed, covering the freckles found on various places on his body and dying his hair with hair dye. With this, the prior Will went as far to change Vita's name to "Aventurine", after a gemstone the casino was popular and well known for having in its walls. This is where Vita's identity and original appearance had become lost to history until recently, nearly another ten years later.

Going through the financial history of the casino, about two years after getting Emerald Attendant, the casino suffered a sudden drop in revenue. Around this time, the casino opened a new service, in which you could "buy" the time of a select few casino personnel, and do with them as you pleased for however much "time" you purchased. Looking deeper into this, I was able to trace the idea back to the original Will, and saw the most requested employee was his assistant, now 19 to 20-year-old Emerald. To put it bluntly, he was using his assistant's appearance to draw customers into the casino and get them to come back. This would continue for several years until our culprit turned 24 years old. Being in higher demand than ever before, our culprit would be unable to take any more and break underneath the pressure from over an additional decade of man's boarish desires.

Around this time, a new figure stepped into the casino scene, a young man who would eventually become the new Authority of Will, and our future victim. However, he would remain unaware of the abuse that would happen to his future underling, and he would continue to uphold the standards put in place by the prior Will.

On December 12th, 20XX, a sudden shift in leadership would occur, with the prior Will being replaced by the new one due to a sudden death within the casino walls. This sudden shift caused controversy and birthed a rumor about the current Authority of Will. While the rumor in and of itself is not important to the case, it is important to know what the rumor was, and what truly happened.

This rumor was that the new Will had killed the old Will to usper his position and power. However, looking deeper into this case, I found the autopsy report for the Old Will, and something in there stood out to me. "The body sustained deep lacerations as if it were slashed by something sharp." This note was what stood out to me the most upon reviewing this case initially, and now having gone through the files in the Gemstone case, it interested me even more. However, what interests me the most now is what can be found later in the file. "Deep lacerations were found on the backside of the corpse, as well as distinctive red marks. A notable scent of burning flesh was also present, although its source was never identified." This was overlooked at the first time, but not this time.

In the end, his death was chalked up to a wild animal attack, and no one was ever charged. However, with the incoming information I'll be expanding upon later on in the file, I would like to make an official request for reexamination. I believe he was also murdered by our suspect, Vita, due to his abuse of power and authority. Not only are the manner and descriptions of death similar to the crimes committed in this case, but the distinctive red marks are a trademark of the Dire Balemoon's power, something she called hellfire. Furthermore, our suspect would have had the motive needed to kill our original victim.

Despite having a new shift in leadership, the system of abuse that had been put into place prior had continued on underneath new leadership. The new Will made no effort to undo the harm caused by his predecessor. Whether he was ignorant of this harm or willingly chose profit over his own employees' well-being is unknown. Although, with how deep I had to research to find this information, I would hazard a guess that he never knew until it was far too late.

Two years later, the infamous Emerald Gemstone Masquerade Ball would be scheduled to take place from 8 PM June 18th, 20XX to 6AM June 19th, 20XX. However, things took a turn for the worse at 12:20 AM, June 19th, 20XX. Or, so we all thought. But tragedy had struck much earlier in the day.

While I am unsure of the exact time of his true death, when he "fell" at 12:20 AM, the Authority of Will was already dead. In truth, Will had been killed around 11 PM. Our killer approached our first victim while he was alone in the backroom. Judging from the file Royal Flush wrote, this is my reconstruction of events.

Disappearing into the break room, Will and Attendant took their turns getting drinks and snacks while Jack of Diamonds and Strawberry Mojito entertained their revered guests. While they were alone in the back, the Attendant and Will had gotten into an argument, causing the Attendant to physically retaliate and attack Will. Utilizing the sharp red nails that we've associated with the use of hellfire, he cut the victim through the chest, causing the victim to fall. From this point, the killer grabbed a glass from the counter and smashed it over the victim's head, thus killing the victim via blunt force. However, instead of letting the victim be found in the break room, the killer would have the idea to create a murder mystery that would become impossible for the surviving parties to pin him to. Utilizing a cloth, some cleaning supplies, an old gun, and some string, our killer would create what would appear to be a live murder scene. Using the cloth and cleaning supplies, he would create a fake "killer" for everyone to witness, and by tying the trigger with some string and creating a sort of trip wire, the killer created a timed scenario where it would appear a shadowed killer would shoot Will, Will would fall over the railing and "die", and the killer would "run away" (the recoil of the gun would cause the supplies' to fall apart, and thus the figure would "disappear"). In doing so, he could create a scenario where he would have a proper alibi, and everyone would be searching for a killer they could not find. And, when Strawberry Mojito and White Night disappeared from the group, it's safe to say that one of them triggered the tripwire to the gun, causing the gun to shoot and set this devious plan in motion. Thus concludes the first murder.

However, this would not be the end of it. Shortly concluding the investigation of Will's body and realizing the exit was locked, panic and worry had officially begun to settle in amongst the living guests. One guest, in particular, had taken poorly to this newfound stress and began to freak out and lash out towards everyone else around her, like that of a caged animal. Eventually, she would physically attack another guest before running off. When she realized what she had done, I believe she retreated into one of the casino's many hidden passageways (which she had knowledge of due to her history with the casino as a life-long customer) to escape the pursuit of others, for better or worse. Walking down the hidden hallway where others couldn't find her, she tried to rationalize to herself that her reaction was just, when she ran into our killer also wandering these hidden halls. Perhaps he was hiding something in this room, or perhaps he was doing something that was imperative didn't get out. Whichever it was sealed the fate of Miss Mary as our killer slowly began approaching her. In an attempt to defend herself, Miss Mary pulled out a small golden pocket knife from inside the ribbon wrapped around her waist and pointed it at the killer. Unfortunately for her, the killer had paid little mind to the weapon, and grabbed our second victim by the throat, lifting her off the ground and began strangling her. However, in a panic, Miss Mary used her knife and dug it into the killer's wrist, forcing him to let her go. However, this only incurs his wrath, and he yanked that golden knife from his wrist and used it to end Mary's life. Faced with what to do with her corpse, he pondered what to do with her body. Opting to simply dump her somewhere on his way to the bar, he left her body in the area where the slots were. While dropping her body, he noticed the lone coat in the distance, and while passing by, he slipped the bloody knife into the coat's pocket, before walking away. Running into Masquerade Mask and King of Spades in the distance, he met up with them and hung out with them for a while before walking away until the body was discovered by Casino Slots. Thus concludes this the second murder.

At this point, three lives have been taken by our killer, and pressure has begun to settle in on the trapped guests. At this point, Strawberry Mojito had attempted to gather everyone together, saying that they needed to calm down and regroup. However, due to personal objections, this meeting was pushed back. Nervous, Mojito invited Emerald Attendant and Jack of Diamonds to discuss what to do now. However, little did he know he would become targeted by the very killer who he was trying to stop. Telling Mojito and Jack that he needed to do something and would be there soon, instead, our killer would find a gun inside his late boss' study. Pausing, he began his third murder. Aiming at the lights, he used the gun to shatter the lightbulbs in the room to hide himself, before aiming the gun and shooting Strawberry Mojito three times in the chest. The force of this action sent Mojito's corpse falling over the bar counter and slamming into the floor, where Jack of Diamonds had been hiding. Retreating, he left the gun in the hallway, and after taking a moment, made his way over to the bar, as if he weren't just there. However, when Jack mentioned that she had been hiding there the entire time, and how the killer had lighter-colored hair. With this, our killer decided he needed to go about this in a different manner to avoid being caught. This ends the recap of the third murder, but this is simply the start. For the fourth murder... was the "death" of our killer.

He knew with a slip-up like that, he would only get so far being "alive", so he came up with the brilliant idea of his own body's discovery. Carefully, he organized everything leading up to the discovery, including the people who would find his body and the means of "death". Making the offhanded comment to White Night and the other survivors about coffee in the break room, he headed over to set his plan into motion. Sitting in the break room, he helped the surviving guests pour coffee and chatted with them idly, and once the room had emptied, he pulled out a large kitchen knife from the knife block. Closing the door, he took a step by the coffee machine, twiddling with the knife. Upon hearing the sounds of distant chatter getting closer, he plunged the kitchen knife into his stomach three times before eventually stumbling into the wall behind him, sinking onto the floor before ultimately collapsing, leaving a puddle of blood beneath him. A few moments passed before he could hear the door to the break room opening, and two figures walking into the break room to discover his "corpse". It was at this moment when the King of Spades had bent down and attempted to turn the man onto his side. However, his hand brushed against the killer's face, causing a mixture of blood and makeup to get on the man's hand, revealing the dark freckles hidden beneath. In panic, the man drew his hand back, stumbling and falling into the girl who was standing behind him. At this point, they decided to call everyone in.

Despite the ongoing investigation, while he was still conscious, he played the part of being dead well enough to be presumed dead by Royal Flush, and thus was the fourth murder completed.

Once making sure he was alone, our killer rose to his feet shakily, gripping onto his bleeding wound with gritted teeth. Forcing himself into moving, he successfully faked his death and began his next move. Taking off his blood-covered suit, he grabbed some bandages and cared for his wounds. After getting settled, he went through the different spare suits in the closet, before settling on this white coat and grey two-piece vest and pants. Grabbing some makeup wipes, he wiped away the makeup he wore, washed out the dye from his hair, and became the "Crimson Balemoon" as we know him today. One thing to note is the status of the suit he wore. The suit coat was a plain white suit coat, and the outfit he wore was plain grey, no red in sight. It is theorized that with the activation of hellfire, the suit caught fire and became something closer to the suit worn by his "father". However, the suspect refuses to denote how the outfit underwent this change, and has not worn said outfit ever since. It isn't important, but I will admit... it does intrigue me.

It is the fifth murder in which our killer begins to utilize more... macabre methods to deal with our victims. Donning his new outfit, he set his sights on a new target, one whom had all but isolated himself. The only thing in the way was the young blonde lady by his side. However, an opportunity presented itself when the girl left to get something from the nearby bar, leaving the distracted young man alone. Sneaking past the distracted gambler, the killer jumped from the upper balcony, landing in front of the doors of the slots room. Startled, the young man jumped up, seeing the man who would soon end his life. Using his foot, the killer would slam the doors to the room, trapping Slots in the room where he would meet his end. This loud noise would alert Chips, whom would come and find the doors locked (or rather, jammed) and would leave to go get the last living employee's help. However, it would be too late to rescue the man trapped inside, for our victim would trip and fall, and our killer would take the opportune to kick one of the nearby slot machines, causing it to fall over on top of the victim, killing them and leaving no remains. Retreating after the murder, the killer would watch as the gruesome murder would be discovered, fleeing into the shadows before he would be noticed. This concludes the fifth murder.

Time would pass by, and another opportunity would arise as a frustrated Martini would take out his anger on the King of Spades, instigating an argument with the purple-haired man. Picking up on the general disdain for the odd man and the second argument thus far facilitated by the young man, our killer had gotten the idea to frame the young man for the murders and force him to take the fall. Waiting for Spade to inevitably storm off, the killer followed him from the hidden hallways. However, what our killer was not expecting was for his target to be followed by the very man sparking conflict. This small detail caused an unexpected tragedy to occur. Our killer would be forced to choose between his original plan and taking care of both of them at once, and he could not afford to falter. Our killer would lunge, grabbing Martini by the arm and shoving him backward, causing him to fall into the ajar opening to the secret entrance and hit his head on the floor. Our killer then would attempt to grab the King of Spades, only for Martini to fumble over and grab his leg, stopping the killer from fully moving. In retaliation, the killer would kick Martini deeper into the hidden room before stomping several times on the downed victim. In doing so, the points of his heel would puncture the victim's body, creating something similar in appearance to gunshot wounds and shattering bones. However, our killer would not end Martini's life, as the King of Spades would wrestle the killer to the ground, although he would end up being overpowered and knocked unconscious. His unconscious body would get thrown into the tunnel where the dying Martini would lay, and eventually be dragged away by our killer. However, our victim would use the little energy he had left to drag himself to the now-closing secret entrance, preventing it from fully closing. After an unknown amount of time, two people would stumble across our victim, who with his dying breaths would try to tell our survivors that they assumed something concerning the "wrong person", but his message would not be heard fully. He would die from blood loss shortly after this. It is unknown what his message was supposed to have been, but seeing that this victim had personal relations to our killer and might have known his true face, he was trying to tell them that they assumed wrong to think the Emerald Attendant was dead. However, due to the blood loss and unclear hearing, his message would come out as the "wrong person". Alternatively, this message could have also been towards the Kinng of Spades, as in they were set up to suspect "the wrong person" by the true killer. The true message, however, will always remain unknown.

As Martini lay there, waiting to be found, our killer had gotten to work on his next move. Binding the unconscious red herring to a chair and blindfolding him, our killer would then leave him bound up in the room. Taking this time, our killer would set up his next murder, a rather simple one. Taking a bottle off the shelf, our killer would take a visit to the bartending station, and while it was empty, he would pour this mysterious liquid into all the barrels of alcohol there. Then, at one PM, his next victim would come and get a large glass of poisoned beer. She would drink it, and at 1:30 PM, she would collapse, and her body would fail, leading to her death. This would mark our seventh murder of the night.

In the time it had taken the seventh murder to occur, our killer would return to check on his captive prisoner, who had just come to while he was away. Watching the blindfolded man panic and struggle against his binds, our killer would proceed to taunt and toy with the man, even going as far as to lift part of the man's blindfold up and taunt him. In doing so, he'd reveal his freckles and light-colored hair, confirming his suspicions and backing up Jack's earlier description of the killer, even if the description were to slightly differ now. Our red herring would get into a small altercation with the killer while bound up, causing our killer to snap and retaliate and using a small, concentrated power of hellfire, set his hand ablaze and threaten to burn our red herring to death. Doing this would frighten our red herring into silence, but also open an opportunity for our red herring to free himself. Provoking the killer once more, our killer would attempt to make true to his earlier threat. Kicking our red herring over, the chair would snap underneath the sudden pressure and, even with his hands still bound behind his back, he would be able to get onto his feet. When the killer went to set him ablaze using hellfire, our red herring would knock him onto the floor and use the fire to burn the rope off his hands. Taking the time while our killer was stunned, our red herring would run off into the hallway system. Our killer would get up in a fit of rage and chase after him, but eventually lose the young man in the halls. In frustration, our killer would leave the halls and search for the man, but eventually run into Jack of Diamonds. Deciding to take his anger out on her, he created a crimson dagger from hellfire's abilities and approached her. However, our victim would pull out a gun from her dress and began opening fire on the killer. This action would result in a long, drawn-out battle between the two until eventually, our killer had snuck behind our victim, preparing to end her life then and there. Despite this, our red herring managed to get the upper hand and catch our killer off guard, pulling out a gun he found and shooting our killer in the shoulder, causing him to drop his weapon and force him to flee. However, this would not deter our killer. He would bide his time and wait until Jack was alone. Tearing the door off the hinges, the killer would barge into the room and kill Jack, stabbing her in the back of the neck several times before dropping her body onto the ground. However, despite these injuries, Jack had not died, and attempted crawling out of the room. In response, he would stomp on her head until her skull was crushed and she was no longer moving. This concludes our eight murder of this case.

Thus, we enter our final phase of our case. Our killer would make one final move, for all of the pieces would fall into place. All he would need to do is kill one more person and frame it on the King of Spades, and leave two guests alive to properly pin it on him. In order to do this, he would cut the lights, forcing the group to separate to find a light source. Eventually, someone would find the main light source and turn the lights back on. As one of the girls separated from the ground to go to the bathroom, this was when our killer would try to make his first move. Sneaking around, he made his way to the bathroom. However, King of Spades would point him out to the other two, thus ruining his plan. So, instead, he opted from a more… violent approach. Rushing down the hallway in a sprint, our survivors would begin to chase him until he slipped away into a secret passageway. It would close behind him, and our survivors would lose sight of the killer. Listening in on our survivors, they would suggest escaping through an exit. There, our killer would ambush them, and attempt to kill all four survivors in one go. Waiting for the opportunity, our killer bid his time until the survivors had busied themselves with pointless argument, half freaking out and half crying out accusations. Approaching the distracted survivors, he manifested a spear like item from the abilities of hellfire. In an effort to save her companions, Bourbon would throw herself in front of them, resulting in the killer stabbing her through the chest with the spear, before twisting it and throwing her onto the ground. This would conclude our final murder, and thus begin a battle for survival for our three survivors.

And now, I depart from the reporting of this case to talk a little bit about how we even knew to look here. For, without this, the IPC would have never gotten there in time, and this case would forever be a cold case. See, every victim in this case was a grown adult with their own personal life, all except for one. Everyone mentioned here today were legal adults who have long since left home and wouldn't have had anyone depending on them... except for King of Spades. The King of Spades was a single father who had a young daughter, a young daughter who was counting on him to come back home. When he didn't come back home when he said he would be, she gave one of us a call, and we went and investigated into it, and that is how this case came to be.

What went down within the casino after Bourbon's death is hard to say, because we lack a written record of events and autopsy of a body to go based off of and reconstruct a story. So it's hard to make any concrete speculation on these events. The testimony of these events from these survivors does not lend any sort of clarity either So, I will not comment on this part. At 11:35 PM, me and my IPC agents arrived on the scene to the casino grounds. Utilizing our resources, we entered the casino and rescued three survivors, and escorted them out and to safety. We never saw the killer during our rescue and investigation efforts, nor while doing the body autopsies and overlooking Royal Flush's files. I had an inkling of a feeling that our killer had left the premises, and might still be in pursuit of our survivors, so I put them underneath the IPC's protection and watch. While there, we reunited Spades with his young daughter and went over the facts. However, we couldn't crack the case, causing the case to go cold for 5 years. It was in part due to careful reexamination and assistance and insight from my nameless detectives that we were able to think outside of the box and find an answer to this mystery.

And, with an answer, we were finally able to set a plan in motion to capture our elusive phantom murderer. With the assistance of Spades' daughter, we were able to lure and capture our suspect. And this officially concludes the reporting of this incident.

Next in line for this case is the official sentencing related to the case. The most likely end for our killer is execution, however... in the judgment of the court, could our outcome be different?

Vita... how about you and me make a deal?

[silver-fire-wolf-pokemon-lover]

Some oddly marked turtles bring treats to fellow competitors of the @tmntstorycomp! :D

"Oh Qua Cinque and I arent part of the comptiton we're more spectators but thank you" Leo smiled as he two kids each went agead and grabbed a muffin.

"Oh this is nice" Qua smiled the little sliders eyes wide "are all muffins like this?"

"Thank you for the treats" Cinque murrmered pressing himself into Leo a bit.