#Re-Roofing New Castle

[rmrroofing]

R M R Roofing Services provides expert re-roofing solutions on the Central Coast. Our skilled team specializes in upgrading and replacing roofs with precision and care, ensuring enhanced durability and aesthetic appeal. We use top-quality materials and advanced techniques to deliver long-lasting results.

[livingproofoftbd]

list of awesome manhunt plays

because i always forget which plays are in which videos. figured i'd put it here if anyone else wanted it

2v1

the OG pearl clutch when sapnap dies and he gets his stuff

3v1 round one

covering the water with planks so the hunters die when they jump (MY FAVORITE) (its the first i ever watched :,D )

hunters lava trapping the end portal

3v1 rematch

he drinks the fire res as he jumps into lava and bad dies falling after him

tricks the hunters into thinking his fire res is more strength

as bad and sapnap turn back, he shoots an arrow from a mountain and hits bad from ~100 blocks away

3v1 finale

building a new nether portal to trick bad

splashing an invis pot so no one knows who anyone is

he sets up an end crystal trap in the stronghold and kills them all

bad sneaks up on him and kills him when he’s on half a heart after just killing the other two in the end

3v1 finale rematch

wearing bad’s skin

building his nether portal in a tower

dropping his sword just in time to land on a horse after being knocked from his portal with no water

3v1 grand finale

placing boats under him to cross a lava lake

dropping tnt into the end portal and putting the hunters in the void

4v1 round one

using leaves to tower up and hide in the nether cieling

snd promptly use a fishing rod to pull ant and bad up and kill them from fall damage

we all know it, we all love it. Towering up in the middle of a lake and using frostwalker boots to kill the hunters when they fall

the hunters using end crystals to heal the dragon

4v1 rematch

ant jumping down in the temple with him and setting the tnt off

he kills sapnap and ant with a tnt minecart

the hunters getting prot 4 armour

building a portal on the nether roof and trapping them there with no flint and steel, leaving them to kill themselves to escape

he digs under the end stone and hides in the middle, exploding bed after bed under the dragon as it perches

4v1 finale

ladder clutching when sapnap knocks him down off a tower on the edge of a mountain

trapping sapnap and george in cobwebs and blowing them up

hunters getting full enchanted diamond armour and building a huge castle around the nether portal that dream combats by drinking an invis pot

entity cramming george with minecarts and getting his gear

he lands an MLG on the side of an ISLAND when the dragon hits him

4v1 finale rematch

half a heart and no hunger but still chasing the hunters

the western showdown between dream and sapnap

the under-lava duel between dream and sapnap

ant killing dream with a splash potion

4v1 grand finale

scaffolding glitch

setting off fireworks and killing all the hunters in the portal room

5v1 round one

the boat clutch of all time after sapnap hits him off the tower

stealing sapnap’s enchanted diamond axe and diamond pick

stealing ant’s look and dropping tnt when the hunters dig down

the hunters revive the dragon

5v1 rematch

jumping off the mountain into a village water source

the second boat clutch of all time when he lands on a ghast

rearranging tnt to blow up under the hunters instead of under his portal

visiting the end city

5v1 finale

falling as the tree grows and breaking a leaf at the last second

covers the portal in the nether and overworld in lava

that daylight sensor pearl trick where he disappeared hundreds of blocks from the stronghold

the ender dragon glitch with the water really high above the main end island

5v1 rematch finale

enters the nether within 2 minutes

building a hole to the void to trap the hunter in

sam punching him into his own trap while invis

THE SOUNDBOARDS

the hunters covering the last crystal in obsidian

bad having god-like reflexes, placing obsidian, an end crystal, and exploding it all in like one second

5v1 grand finale

stealing sapnap’s bucket as it falls

trapping the hunters in an ocean monument

bow boosting

throwing a pearl, bone-mealing saplings, and landing on the fully grown tree

building another flying machine

sapnap stopping him by breaking a slime block and sacrificing himself

basically this whole end, dude

dropping tnt and instantly killing four of the hunters, slime clutching and bouncing down to george

fishing his pearls and surviving (perfect throwback to 2v1)

hope you find this helpful if you are like me and can never remember which video the clutch you wanna watch is in

[hometoursandotherstuff]

If you've ever wanted a castle-like house, I found one that's a real bargain. The original structure was built in 1880 in Charleston, West Virginia. It has 4bds, 3ba, and lots of levels, kind of a DIY castle. But, it's only $289,900. How often do you find a castle house for under $300K? Let's take a look and see if has potential.

So, let's see what we have here. There're train tracks right next to it, but that doesn't bother me, I grew up next to train tracks, too. It does have stone, turrets and towers, but it also has some modern construction added with vinyl siding.

In this newer addition to the home, they made a very spacious living room. Disappointed that they didn't include a fireplace, but they did put up a stone feature wall. Could make a nice mini Great Hall.

Off to the left of the living room is an elevator, so you can travel to each floor of your castle in style.

Also in the newer addition is a dining room. There's no wainscoting, it's just paint and I can't tell if there's chair rail molding around it, but there's a stone feature in the corner. That's tile-look vinyl flooring. You could always do wainscoting or wallpaper. Get a nice chandelier.

Not a kitchen befitting a castle. Although it does have that little railing on top of the uppers. That's cute. Needs at least some decor.

I looks like they not only added a new addition, but updated the rest of the house, too.

Here's a narrow shower room.

Looks like this room is used as an office, b/c it's got that weird cabinet on the wall.

What's with all the old TVs all over the house. (Don't think you're leaving those here.)

This must be the main bd. b/c it has an en-suite bath.

Not bad. That tub looks high, it must be a soaker tub.

Very nice- it has a bidet.

See, this is a room in the old section of the house. Very dated.

This is an older bath. The laminate panels on the walls date back to about the 60s.

Now, above the garage, there's a large patio. I wonder if this old rug is rotting the roof.

The house is set on a hill, so from the front porch and yard, there's a view of the city.

On the roof above one of the newer additions, there's a wood deck.

From this deck there's a view of the Kanawha River.

Looks like a nice mountainous area, yet close to a main highway. I don't see any railroad crossing safety to get to the highway.

[forgottenroisin]

Macdara I of Malconaire, King of Oak & Tree, Lord of the Wood, Wielder of Guardian the Oakenbrand, Keeper of the Sacred Groves, Warden of Malconaire, called Oakensteel

ok so obv these titles are 10000% made up/aren't his real stuff etc etc etc (also defffff are considered a list of his seacred duties rather than his honors in this context!!), but!! i thought, in light of this new info we've got re: kings and their castles in astaira, we might wanna talk a bit about the malconaires' og kingly ancestor? now, we've talked abt how they're one of the oldest great houses in all astaira, so im guessing that'd mean this dude is probs a mytho-historic figure to them, a la king arthur?

we'd also talked asp a bit abt how, maybe way back when, astaira was maybe originally ~multiple countries~ that came together to fight the gods and, after that, set up elections between them and their whole culture/convention of elected leaders kinda sprang out of that? ~if we do go w that idea, im guessing that house malconaire and the other of the oldest houses were kings of their respective lands? like, lorcan and stafford seem to be some of those but calleary, for example, is one we've explicitly talked abt being a newer house, so they probs ~weren't, for example?

(note: @forgottenvalentina believes this is all nonsense btw!! she will stubbornly maintain they are ~not of the blood royal as she herself most certainly is! lkjasdklfjsdjf as lizzy said, they're of a ~broken line of kings whereas she is ~not -- roderick: 'wait didn't i kill those guys?' ;DDD)

either way tho! what i ~really wanted to talk abt a bit is ~actually castle malconaire or, more precisely, its guardian tree and an idea i think ive mentioned a bit that i actually stole wholesale from the odyssey #sorrynotsorry so, in the odyssey, its revealed (its a whole thing but anyway) how odysseus carved his marriage bed out of a still-living tree (in his case an olive but shhh) and it was still this living, growing thing and here's a recreation of how it is kinda described w like...the bed is a tree but lowkey so is the whole bedroom sorta thing:

we've also discussed how the tree, like in the odyssey, is the center of the home and how its 1) a guardian and 2) also the sheath of guardian the sword. well, i thought it might also be, nestled upstairs amongst higher branches the lord's bed/bedroom even as it reaches out of the roof far above and to the sky, and possibly below...the ancient malconaire throne...

like, maybe those trees at the front door are all part of this one absolutely insanely mammoth ancient ancient ancient tree that's been built around to make a home/castle, and at its central stalk right in the middle of the great hall is the sheath and the throne a la

(idk why the above wont preview like the others???) or

but still living, growing out of the tree like

or even

bc perhaps ~it is also the portal to find the sword...and to free the gods. what if the reason the sword is lost is bc its acting as a key in a very, very ancient lock, one of many no doubt such as the eternal flame in kolchis and others im sure, that's helping to hold back the gods or smth????? idk?????

i was just thinking abt how, like, in celtic mythology trees sometimes ~are portals...and also prisons, think merlin walking inside the tree and never walking out again as a more modern telling of this concept. a lot of celtic heroes walked into the otherworlds by walking through the opening in a tree and arrived in faerie etc but once they went in they often never returned or, if they did, it was centuries after they'd left and that sort of thing...

so anyway basically the staffords, malconaires, and lorcans think they're doing good by reclaiming the lost stafford sword, and thus galvanizing astaira to fight for its freedom, hoping to keep the gods at bay, but in so doing, they're actually unwittingly making the jail that binds them weaker??? or smth?? idk...alskjfkljdsf like, there's a reason their ancestors sealed it away and ensured that none but their bloodline, its keepers, could ever undo what they'd done, etc??? but the secret of what they're keeping has been lost over the centuries and just the legends of the sword remain now unrelated to the tale of the irmprisoned evil gods??? idk!!!

this might also be part of why @forgottengodfrey is helping them bc he's read all these ancient tomes and sort of puzzled out that these families are significant to his apocalyptic dreams?

~also, side note, @forgottenrian regardless of all the above, v much wants the ancient stafford sword to prove his legitimacy as ruler of astaira so yeah!! lotsa threads here idk????

its also like...we can have parts of this be true w/o the rest necessarily needing to be true. for example, we can have the cosmetic stuff like the central tree and not the plot stuff, or like just the throne or just the portal or...whatever!! but yeah idk i was like 'we could maybe combine all of this???' and went a bit bonkers here hahaha i def will not be offended if you guys aren't feeling this it was just a wild notion i had so i wanted to share! lajksfkljsdf

EDIT! oh one more thing! what if the sword, guardian, is called such bc its actually -- or its hilt is -- a piece of the guardian tree and so its said that the blade shall always remain sharp so long as its wielded by a malconaire but for any nonbeliever who picks it up it shall return to a branch? and it has some eternal-living ivy twining around the hilt? some visuals:

also the door:

[nightshade-clown]

Okay I just want to dump my Magoranza headcanons because of another post I saw, even though I should definitely sleeping right now (￣ヘ￣;)

Okay, so my headcanons are more pre-relationship based but I still want to share them so badly ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Additional note: I repeat a lot "Magolor" and "Taranza" instead of using stuff like "the mage" and "the spider" and other stuff, so yeah, I apologize for the repetitions, I might edit it later to fix that.

☬ I kinda imagine they have a "A fell first and B fell harder" kind of situation lmao.

☬ Magolor first seeing Taranza around, and noticing he always looked miserable in a way (it would happen not long after the events of triple deluxe). So he decides to approach him and go "Hey, wanna hang out ? (^-^)" which Taranza accepts because Magolor gives him an excuse to occupy his mind.

☬ Magolor only asked Taranza to spent time together out of pity for him, but soon come to appreciate his company because not only is Taranza pretty smart and helpful, but he can be pretty mischievous despite his seemingly calm attitude. So obviously Magolor keeps him around because he could always use some help with his shoppe and with his research on the Lor.

☬ And sure, they both share similar interests, and they get along pretty well, and Magolor even allows Taranza to sit on the roof of his shoppe and only him, but that doesn't mean they're close ! And the fact that he is impressed by Taranza's knowledge doesn't mean anything either, and neither the fact that Magolor wants to spend more time with him, or that he thinks it's cute how clumsy Taranza can be, or when he re-do his hair from time to time, and sure, Taranza definitely looks so fine with that new scarf-

☬ And before he knows it, Magolor fell in love with the spider.

☬ His first reaction is to hit his head against the table upon realization. How did that happen ?! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN ?

☬ After a few minutes, he calms down, and just moves on. It's not the end of the world, right ? No need to act weirdly about it.

☬ Though, after he realizes his feelings, Magolor will act a bit differently with Taranza. No big changes, it's pretty subtle actually. Offers discount at his shoppe and on some days even offer some items "because it wouldn't sell"; taking an interest in some of Taranza's hobbies he didn't share with him previously "because seems interesting"; and even studying some of Floralia's culture "in case one day I want to visit so I can be prepared".

☬ He would sometimes flirt a bit but quickly brush it off as a joke, and with his prankster personality, Taranza just rolls with it.

☬ As for Taranza, he doesn't see Magolor as anything other than a friend for a while. Like I said earlier, he would just see Magolor as a way too think about something other than Sectonia's death. But quickly comes to appreciate Magolor as a friend, despite his tendancies to make off putting jokes and being a bit apathetic.

☬ He sees Magolor as a smart person, not only for all the researches he does, but for his projects too like the attraction park he made for Kirby, and his business with the shoppe. And he's fun too, always knows what to do when they hangs out, which Taranza appreciate a lot. It's like a breath of fresh air compared to the strict ambiance in the castle of Floralia. And he finds fascinating all of the tales Magolor has about other dimensions, or about Halcandra.

☬ For a while, he doesn't really notices Magolor's flirting, mainly because he only sees him as a friend, but also because he still feel like he can't completely moves on from Sectonia. When he thinks of love, the first thing he thinks about is her, his dear Queen.

☬ It's not until someone else points it out (either Susie or Marx) that Magolor acts differently with him compared to everyone else (Marx would probably complains about the free stuff Taranza gets, while Susie would points out how Magolor took a sudden interests on things related to him) that Taranza starts noticing this too. And he also notice how Magolor only "jokingly" flirt only with him.

☬ Boi does that spider gets flustered.

☬ Taranza spends the following few days questioning if Magolor really likes him like that, and how he feels about it.

☬ And for the first time, he start thinking of romantic love without thinking about Sectonia, but about Magolor instead. And he likes it (even if a part of him feels guilty about it).

☬ After a few more days after he realizes that he might be in love with Magolor, Taranza starts making moves on him too, a bit less subtly though.

☬ If he gets the occasion, he buys and gift him all kinds of stuff, be it something Magolor took an interest of while walking in around in the waddle Dee's town, or something related to his interests, or it could even be something related to his research (or something Taranza at least thinks is related to his interests). Most of the time, the gifts are pretty spontaneous.

☬ Magolor would joke about how Taranza is spoiling him, and Taranza would laugh it off, albeit extremely flustered.

☬ He would also do all kinds of favours to Magolor, helping more around the shoppe more than usual, and proposing more help with his researches.

☬ Magolor does notice the sudden change of behavior in Taranza, how he suddenly seems more nervous and flustered easily, and how he seems more clumsy while helping sometimes. He decides not to question it, though. It's kinda endearing to see, after all.

☬ It kinda goes on like that for a while, the two just flirting with each other without much else going on after, and it's this kind of awkward phase between friendship and romance where the both don't know where they stand at this point.

☬ Until one day, Kirby asks them if they are a couple. Magolor starts chuckling while Taranza starts choking on air.

☬ Magolor teasingly asks Taranza "Well, wouldn't we make a cute couple ?" which flusters Taranza A LOT.

☬ After a few seconds of trying to calm down enough to talk, Taranza reply "Maybe we would, don't you think so too ?" which ends up flustering Magolor back.

☬ And all the while Kirby is looking at them like "What the heck is going on ? (◍•ᴗ•◍)"

Anyway, that's also how they ended up together. BYE-

[stromuprisahat]

Could you explain Fjerdan religion to me? I've been re-reading the books, and I'm still confused. Djel is their main god, but he's mentioned as one of many gods. However, we never hear about the other gods, not even a passing mention, unless I'm missing something. Also, do they have saints? And do they believe in the Ravkan saints at all?

I'm afraid it's even worse than Ravkan religion- there's a few mentions, but no obvious system, no real organisation of it.

The connection with Ravka seems like the usual stuff happening where two religions meet- some things are changed and shared, in some areas one tries to replace another. Until- of course- Alina Starkov, the Effortless Saint, appears and every single human being in the universe realizes it's time to worship her and her even more ordinary pals.

I quickly went through the books, but couldn't find much more than that Djel's connected to all water and ash trees. I guess I might find more as I'm reading, so I'll post it, but for now the only other interesting piece of information's this- one of the other gods is likely Sankt Egmond, although I assume the "Sankt" part is the Ravkan version:

Egmond was known to be favored by the Saints—though those who worship Djel like to claim the ash and Egmond as their own. ... Egmond was thrown into the dungeons of the royal castle, high on the cliffs above Djerholm. ... The cells were cold and damp but protected from the wind that blew through the cracks in the walls of the rooms high above. ... Down in the dungeon, Egmond placed one hand in a puddle of rainwater and one hand upon the castle wall, where the tiniest tendril of a root had begun to find its way through the gaps in the stone. A great rumbling was heard, and for a moment, it seemed the whole building would fly apart. Then a final thunderous roar echoed through the night, and a massive ash tree shot from the ground up through the very center of the castle. Silence fell. True silence. The wind had stilled. Rain no longer dripped from the roof. The ash tree’s roots had sealed up the floors, crowded through the cracks in the stone, and buttressed the castle walls. Its bark was white and shone like new snow. ... The palace Egmond built was unlike any seen before it. A stone serpent guarded its high towers, its bridge of glass and moat of floating frost, its silver clock tower, and the sacred ash at its heart. Ever since, the Ice Court has stood, its walls unbreached by any army. Sankt Egmond is the patron saint of architects.

The Lives of Saints- Sankt Egmond

But as I was going through the books, Fjerdan belief seemed more and more as monotheistic religion, so perhaps this changed too. (Let's be fair- LB isn't the most consistent writer.)

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

One of the earliest looks at THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, back when it was going to be released as a mainline Walt Disney Pictures films, appears on the 1993 VHS release of PINOCCHIO...

The PINOCCHIO VHS in question streeted in late March of that year, and copies were printed as early as January. Maybe even earlier, so this was early on in the film's road to release.

Close to release, it was decided to have NIGHTMARE be a Touchstone Pictures title instead, as Disney higher-ups had concerns over the film's "macabre" content. 13 years later, in 2006, it was rebranded as a "Walt Disney Pictures" film and all current copies and versions open with that CGI castle logo.

Today, Animation Compendia uploaded an international trailer from the year after its North American release...

Built around the PINOCCHIO VHS trailer, and adding THE LION KING now that that film had already been out in most of Europe before this movie debuted across the Atlantic, it's fascinating to see it open with a Touchstone logo but still hype up how it's part of the Disney legacy of innovation, along with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT... Even though Disney tried to distance it and that movie from the Disney name...

ROGER RABBIT is its own breed, though. Disney had BIG theme park plans for the movie, with only a few of them materializing (like ToonTown in Anaheim), and Disney Feature Animation did three shorts w/ Roger, Jessica, and Baby Herman, two of which that ran before mainline Disney movies. (The first of them, TUMMY TROUBLE, was attached to HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. The third, TRAIL MIX-UP, was with A FAR OFF PLACE.)

It's also kinda weird seeing LION KING before this movie, but yeah, in Europe... LION KING was out first, then NIGHTMARE.

Here in North America, NIGHTMARE came out in October 1993, and THE LION KING was a June 1994 release.

THE LION KING was originally meant to be a Thanksgiving 1993 release, following the Thanksgiving debuts of OLIVER & COMPANY, LITTLE MERMAID, RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and ALADDIN... All in a row...

But when LION KING's story issues proved to be a larger problem than anticipated, it broke the new "Disney animated event every Thanksgiving/holiday season" tradition and moved to the summer. So that meant NIGHTMARE had that space to itself, albeit, opening wide two days before Halloween and playing throughout the season. As long as it could, anyways. NIGHTMARE was only a moderate success, grossing a still impressive $50m domestically. Many clicks above Disney's competition (it was even a little bit higher than what Don Bluth's '80s hits AN AMERICAN TAIL and THE LAND BEFORE TIME took in), but quite a few clicks below BEAUTY and ALADDIN.

In Europe, however, THE LION KING was released first. The UK, for example, got it in October 1994. NIGHTMARE was closer to Thanksgiving that year. This was during a weird time where not only did Disney's newest animated movies open waaaay after, theatrically, in Europe... But also, Warner Bros. (!) distributed some of the movies!

Weird, huh?

A practice not uncommon way before these corporations all began to firmly say "All of this stuff is under ONE roof", believe it or not! Disney was no stranger.

For example, in Italy throughout the 1970s, Cinema International Corporation handled distribution of Disney's films. Here's an opening to a 1979 re-release of PETER PAN - sourced from a Super 8 reel - that has their logo following a blanked-out Buena Vista title card...

Disney joined w/ Warner Bros. to distribute their movies in the UK and a few other European territories in 1988, but then ended things in 1992 after BEAUTY AND THE BEAST came out in Europe, later creating a new version of Buena Vista International. That logo, you can see at the beginning of the NIGHTMARE trailer Animation Compendia just uploaded, showed up towards the end of 1993.

They became so big by that point in time, they could now handle more theatrical distribution overseas. Video was still an exception, though. In a country like, say, Brazil, Disney's video releases were put out by a regional company called Abril Video. That's one example of many. You get the idea, right?

Disney minutiae.

[pampersshrekayo11]

Spy Fiction(2003)

Spy Fiction (スパイフィクション) is a stealth-based video game by Access Games, Sammy Studios and Sega, released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2.

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The game is promoted as "stealth action inspired by genre-defined espionage classics" and gives players the ability to disguise themselves as any character in the game. The lack of advertising before release and realism in the game are commonly cited as reasons why this game was outshone by its competitors in the stealth genre and sold poorly.

Plot

The games place in an undisclosed year, through the months of October through December. Beginning in medias res, the story starts on Christmas Eve. The fictional Special Execution Agency (S.E.A.) sends three operatives from their Phantom Unit, Billy Bishop, Sheila Crawford and Nicklaus Nightwood; onto the roof of Castle Wolfgang in Austria. Eve, SEA's commanding officer, informs them that the terrorist group Enigma is inside the castle, and they must be stopped before they can utilize their bio-weapon "Lahder". The trio are successful in infiltrating the castle, but Nicklaus is captured in the process. The player (taking the role of either Bishop or Sheila, making the character who is not selected an NPC.) infiltrates a chapel within the castle by posing as Enigma's second-in-command, Dietrich Troy. Inside, Bishop and Sheila are confronted by the real Dietrich, as well as Enigma's anonymous leader and a group of guards. Dietrich displays Nicklaus hung upon a crucifix, shooting and killing him as the leader leaves. A flashback commences once Nicklaus has died.

The story proper begins two months prior to the game's opening. The player is heading a covert investigation into NanotechDyne Inc, a pharmaceutical company suspected of developing biochemical weapons. The SEA needs to access files on the computer of the new Research Director, Forrest Kaysen, who recently displaced a now missing Dr. Alice Coleman. The player must retrieve a password for the computer, as well as a scan of Kaysen's retina to access the computer. The plan is a success, and the player is extracted and sent back in at midnight to access the computer. Despite a close call with the advanced security, the player secures the files, seeing the emblem of Enigma on the desktop.

Days later, the player is placed on the Metropolis airship to conduct another investigation. The player is teamed up with the other possible player character as well as Nicklaus and Phantom's team leader, Samuel Berkeley. Kaysen has been linked to the Metropolis' owner, Kelly Wong, and Phantom must observe a meeting between the doctor and the businesswoman. Bishop sends Kaysen to Sheila, disguised as one of the ship's dancers. She knocks him out, allowing Billy to pose as him and take his place at the meeting while Sheila eavesdrops. Billy then wakes Kaysen up, and he goes to the meeting with Sheila, disguised as Wong. Once the meetings have taken place, Samuel and the second playable character leave the ship, while Nicklaus and the player move to see the upcoming demonstration of the Lahder virus that Kaysen and Wong talked about.

The player makes it to the demonstration without Nicklaus. Lahder turns out to be a small grenade-like sphere, emitting purple gas. Kaysen prepares to test the device on a monkey before an audience, mostly consisting of arms dealers and criminals. However, Wong nods to Troy, standing behind the scenes, and pushes Kaysen into isolation with Lahder and the monkey. Kaysen is gruesomly killed, and the audience applauds. However, Nicklaus contacts the player stating that they've been discovered. The player attempts to escape, finding Wong surrounded by guards. The player disarms Wong and neutralizes her men, holding her at gunpoint. Troy appears, holding the player at gunpoint as well, and shoots Wong when she attempts to cut the player with a knife. A third terrorist appears, and knocks the player out.

The player wakes in a cage in the jungle, held captive. Escaping when the guards bring food, the player finds their equipment, and contacts Eve. Eve sends the player to the terrorist's biochemical plant to destroy the Lahder payload. Over the radio, Samuel recognizes the third terrorist from the airship as General Douglas Lysander when the player sees him through their camera; and suggests that if Lysander, a former Green Beret hero disavowed by the US when he was taken as a POW, is working for the terrorist "this mission just got a lot harder."

Disguising themselves as Troy to enter the plant, the player destroys the payload and sets out to escape before US forces bomb the facility. The player then finds a wounded Nicklaus locked in a storage crate. He tells the player that Dr. Coleman is in the holding cells, and the player goes to rescue her. After a gunfight, Coleman runs, and is captured by Lysander. The player chases and then battles Lysander before Nicklaus fatally shoots him, allowing them to secure Coleman and escape.

Enigma announces their ultimatum, demanding the US "confess its sins" and resign from the UN Security Council. Bishop, Sheila and Samuel are then sent to the Rodt Rose Train Station in Austria to resolve a hostage situation caused by Enigma. Samuel is wounded in combat, and sends the player to free the hostages. The hostage situation turns out to be staged, and the player is ambushed after Troy suggests that there is a traitor in Phantom. Returning to Samuel, the player finds he has gone to chase Troy before he escapes via train and destroys the station. The player manages to land on top of the train, and get to its front car, where Troy has Samuel strapped to the front car. Troy elaborates on Enigma's plans, saying that they intend to trigger a third World War. Troy escapes, and Samuel reveals that Enigma's leader is actually a former Phantom leader named Dimitri Vedernikov, aka Scarface, and that Vedernikov was once Samuel's partner, and is the player's father. Bishop and Sheila are unable to free Samuel, and instead are forced to save themselves by detaching the train cars, sending Samuel toward a bridge rigged with explosives.

The player then replays the introduction, with added difficulty, before returning to the Nicklaus's death in the chapel. The player disarms the guards, and wounds Troy in battle, before special forces arrive and fatally shoot him. The player continues to forward to confront Scarface, who is preparing to fly the Metropolis (revealed to be a "Lahder Bomb".) over the US. Scarface reveals a cyborg body, but the player defeats him, and uses a Jacob or Lahder vaccine created by Coleman to destroy the virus, while Scarface is killed in the explosion.

If the game is played a second time with a completed save file already present (or if the player is taking all 3DA camera photos of Nicklaus during all stages in the game.), the game continues on with another mission. Eve reports that Nicklaus is actually still alive, and the body recovered from the chapel is actually Phantom's tech officer, Michael Kwan. Bishop and Sheila track Nicklaus to an Airbase, where he intends to flee, now revealed as double agent for Enigma. During the confrontation, Nicklaus exposes his true colors as he turns out to be Dietrich Troy himself. (It is never revealed who the man seeming to be Troy special forces killed in the chapel.) Nicklaus explains that he was against both Enigma and Phantom, acting for his own motives of revenge against Scarface and the player, of whom he is the half-brother. Nicklaus had been seeking revenge on Scarface for killing his mother, and on the player out of spite. ("While I froze in a Siberian orphanage, you grew up with a mother who loved you.) Nicklaus uses a flash grenade to escape, prompting Bishop and Sheila to chase him as he boards a plane and starts down the runway. The player shoots a hole in the gas tank, and uses a flare to ignite it as Nicklaus takes off. The flare burns along the gas trail, reaching the plane and destroying it, killing Nicklaus as well. The game ends with the player wondering who "the battle was really against."

Information taken from Swery65 Wiki :33

[grandmaster-anne]

Gone to rack and ruin?

By Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence | Published 29 July 2020

Country Life Guest Edited by HRH The Princess Royal

What on earth do you do with a ruined, but historically significant country house?

This is a question that plagues the average workaday heritage chairman, causing headaches, insomnia and occasional bouts of teeth-grinding. Here, I will use four examples from the English Heritage portfolio to illustrate the challenges we face. Country Life readers may have their own views about how we should deal with them; if so, I anticipate a flood of letters offering advice. Each site is different and no one solution fits all.

Kirby Hall

Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire was built in the 1570s by Sir Humphrey Stafford and, after his death, by Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor. This magnificent house shows all the creative energy and architectural innovation of the first Elizabethan age.

In the 17th century, it hosted five royal visits and boasted one of the finest gardens in England. After four generations of Hattons (all called Christopher in that charming, if rather confusing, English way) it passed to the Winchilsea family, who lived there until the 1770s. Abandoned in the 1830s, it is now roofless, but retains enough of its form for us to imagine how astonishing it would have looked when first built.

John Summerson wrote: ‘The beauty of Kirby’s decline is that it was private and without violence. The house was never burnt, ravaged, used as a quarry or assaulted by mobs.’ English Heritage looks after buildings that suffered exactly those fates, but because Kirby was spared all of them, one can still appreciate there the romance of a lost grandeur.

What should we do with it? The Ministry of Works in the 1960s did its usual thorough, if, by current standards, a little over-zealous, conservation job. Part of the house is still roofed, but leaks are threatening the ceilings underneath. One proposal was to re-roof a further part of the house — the Great Gallery — and use it to display a collection of contemporary furniture, paintings and so on.

That idea has not yet passed the ‘value for money’ test. We are currently working on a modest new exhibition, which will be completed later this year. Major additional work would require a substantial funding package to match.

Sutton Scarsdale Hall

Sutton Scarsdale Hall in Derbyshire is another example of the rise and fall of a noble country house and is one of our greatest conservation challenges.

It was a Baroque masterpiece, built in the 1720s for the 4th Earl of Scarsdale using some of the notable craftsmen of the day. The splendid exterior stonework was carved by Edward Poynton of Nottingham; the Italian master craftsmen Arturi and Vasilli carried out the fine stucco decoration in the principal rooms, remnants of which are still visible.

The cost of the building over-stretched the Scarsdales — an all-too-familiar story, I’m afraid — and the house was sold in the 19th century to a local family, the Arkwrights. In turn, they were forced to sell in 1919 to a company of asset strippers.

Despite the fact that Lord Curzon’s 1913 Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act had by then provided the Government with protective powers, many of the hall’s finely decorated rooms were sold off as architectural salvage.

Amazingly, some still survive, but sadly not in Derbyshire: three interiors are displayed at the Museum of Art in Philadelphia and a pine-panelled room is at the Huntington Library in California. The latter was given to the library by a Hollywood film producer, who had used it as a film set for Kitty in 1934. He had bought it from the newspaper magnate and collector, William Randolph Hearst.

More happily, the hall was saved from intended demolition in 1946 by Sir Osbert Sitwell. His descendants handed it to the nation in 1970.

The roofless hall stands proudly on a prominent hill, an important part of the visual landscape of the area and visible from Bolsover Castle across the valley. However, the exposed hilltop location and lack of protection from a roof or glazed windows make the building itself, and especially the exceptionally important plasterwork, acutely vulnerable.

We are currently spending considerable sums patching and making good, but, for a charity such as us, this cannot be a long-term solution. What should we do? One option would be to re-roof the whole hall — at huge expense. Another would be a partial re-roofing to cover the best areas of plasterwork.

A third would be to devise some form of tailor-made protection for the plaster-work in situ, but anything of this nature would have significant aesthetic impact. We have even thought of a private investor taking it over and turning it into a hotel or apartments. All options remain under consideration.

Witley Court

My third example presents a very different set of issues. A new house was built on old foundations at Witley Court in Worcestershire in the early 1500s, but eight generations of the Foley family (all called Thomas — rather proving my earlier point) progressively modernised the Tudor original in Jacobean, then Palladian style, enlarged the park, built a new parish church next door and, in the early 19th century, commissioned John Nash, the leading Regency architect, to remodel the house extensively.

In 1837, ownership passed to Lord Ward, later Earl of Dudley. During the Dudleys’ tenure, the house was transformed into a ‘Victorian palace’ in the Italianate style made fashionable by Prince Albert at Osborne.

The whole house and church were encased in Bath stone; a new wing and a conservatory were added. Among many additions to the gardens was the magnificent Perseus and Andromeda fountain, fed from a new reservoir in the hill behind.

As happened so often elsewhere, the estate began to be broken up after the First World War and, in 1937, a serious fire gutted much of the building. From then until it was taken into public guardianship in 1972, it was stripped of materials and vandalised, but, thereafter, it was stabilised and made accessible. The great fountain continues to operate for an hour each day and looks magnificent after a major restoration in 2004 and further work in 2016, the latter generously funded by Unilever.

Visitors can now enjoy the park and gardens and wander through the house, where the fire has revealed the various stages of its development.

There are no plans to re-roof the main house, but how can we enhance the pleasure of visiting the place and bring more of its history to life? For example, we are considering digitising the many excellent photographs of the interiors taken during its heyday, so that people can call them up on their mobile phones as they walk round.

We would like to refurbish the conservatory as a cafe. This would require expensive works to bring in services, yet those might enable us to produce more events there, following the very successful art exhibition held in 2019 — perhaps that was a harbinger of things to come.

Belsay Hall

Now, at last, for something with a roof — Belsay Hall in Northumberland. The site comprises three distinct, but related elements: a medieval castle, a 19th-century hall and, linking the two buildings, an outstanding garden. The Middleton family has owned the estate since 1270 and still lives nearby.

The hall’s designer, Sir Charles Monck, drew on the classical ideal he had seen on honeymoon in Greece and transposed the style of a Greek temple into an English villa from 1807 (Fig 6). Its sense of space, balance and rigorous architectural logic were unlike anything seen in Britain. Incidentally, Monck demolished the old village of Belsay on the site and rebuilt it in its current position outside the park — the sort of thing you could do in those days.

He deliberately quarried the stone for the hall in a way that left space for a unique garden, the ravines, pinnacles and sheer rock faces he created inspired by the ancient quarries of Syracuse, Sicily. The gardens still showcase the interplay between natural beauty and the sublime, between wild and tame, from natural woodland through the exotic-ally planted quarry to the more formal terraces and garden rooms near the house.

The family moved from the draughty castle to the new hall on Christmas Day 1817. Sadly, flaws in Monck’s internal guttering system led to wholesale infestation with dry rot. By 1980, when the family handed the buildings and garden into public guardianship, it was unoccupied, unfurnished and stripped of much internal wood and plasterwork. The silver lining of this cloud is that it is now possible better to appreciate features of its design. Standing in the beautiful central atrium,

it does feel more like a temple than a house. The windows are huge, allowing in plenty of natural light, and the acoustics are exceptional, thanks to the empty rooms, vast cellars and a network of flues.

Sound, light and empty space may hold the key to its future use; it is an ideal place for creative programming. We have in the past held innovative fashion and art shows there and have staged acoustic experiences, one with voices broadcast down the chimneys. There will, I am sure, be more of this.

We are in the middle of a major project, part funded by the National Lottery, which includes urgent conservation work, a full restoration of the gardens and a new cafe. The Middleton family and its trustees remain engaged, supportive and, I hope, appreciative of the promise of a new lease of life for Belsay.

These four examples illustrate the enormous technical and financial challenges we face with these and other houses. It’s not unreasonable to ask: why are we doing this? What is the purpose behind a heritage body preserving and/or conserving a building?

Well, we want the places to be informative — to tell us something about the people who built them, about their architectural style, about the people who lived in them or who visited them. It’s all part of explaining the story of England to current and future generations, not only to please or inform expert historians and architects, but to encourage a much wider body of people to see and enjoy our buildings.

From school groups (we host many) to local enthusiasts and anyone who has become fascinated by these places — perhaps after reading about them or seeing a Google arts fly-through online. We hope they will all want to see more, to learn more and enjoy (that word again) the experience.

We have to ask: should we preserve such buildings as they are now, strip them back to their original state when first built or restore them to how they appeared at the height of their glory? With our intact houses — such as Osborne, Apsley or Audley End — the answer is as self-evident as it is with a completely ruined castle or abbey: there really is no option. However, my examples here and others fall between those stools. There are no straightforward answers; we have to look at each on its own merits.

Total returns to past glories are rarely feasible, but allowing further decline is not in our DNA. More commonly, we seek to stabilise each place in a state of ‘sustainable conservation’ — a condition that we can maintain in the long term, avoiding costly repeated repairs. It is an evidence-based way of prioritising work according to historical significance, current condition and a better understanding of the specific causes of deterioration. Once in that state, the typical approach is ‘adaptive re-use’: bringing a building back to life by giving it new uses, which complement, rather than obscure the original.

Above all, these houses must be nurtured and loved so that they can tell their part of the story of England. English Heritage will do what it can, helped by the communities living nearby, many of which provide terrific support — and, perhaps, by the occasional generous benefactor.

[bluenpinkcastle]

20240122: the History of LEGO Castle day 022. 6074-1 / 10039-1 Black Falcon's Fortress (1986 / 2002, 429 pieces, 93 different parts) The Black Falcon's Fortress was the largest Black Falcon's castle released until the Creator 3-in-1 Medieval Castle in 2021, and it's only slightly bigger than 6073-1 Knight's Castle. The Black Falcon's Fortress is a light gray castle with two towers in the front on either side of a front gate with a black drawbridge. The front towers use the new 3x3x6 corner wall, as do the back corners of the castle. The second floor of the castle has a small covered walkway with the brand new yellow 2x5x6 castle wall panel with black lattice work and a black sloped roof. This is also the first non-symetrical castle so far. The "Yellow" Castle (375-2 / 6075-2), the Knight's Castle (6073-1), and the King's Castle (6080-1) have all had a front gate tower and two matching towers at the right and left corners of the castle, but the Black Falcon's Fortress has the two towers in front making up the larger front gate and the off-center alcove in the rear. The set comes with six Black Falcons minifigures. Four of the minifigures have the standard blue Black Falcon torso with black arms and the silver and black halved falcon pattern on a triangular shield outline with plain black legs and black helmets, though two are archers and two spear wielders. The other two minifigures are both knights, one with a black torso and black arms with the silver breastplate print and one with a blue torso and black arms with the silver breastplate print, and both have black legs with red belts. The knights each have one horse, so one white horse with a red saddle and one black horse with a blue saddle. Unique parts in this set include the blue 2x2 hard plastic Black Falcons flag and the yellow 2x5x6 castle wall panel with black lattice work. The light gray corner wall with dark gray stone print was only found in two other sets, 6062-1 Battering Ram (1987) and 6077-2 Forestmen's River Fortress (1989). While the original 6074-1 was released in 1986, the LEGO Group decided to re-release it as part of the Legends theme in 2002. The only real differences between the sets are: the shiny dark gary sword becomes dark gray swords, switching out the 1x1 plates with thin U clips to thick U clips, and switching out the one clip blue and red saddles for two clip saddles. Probably my absolute favorite part of this entire castle is how this is the one castle so far with an entry gate the carts up until this point will actually fit through, as the drawbridge is wider. Overall, though, this castle is such a beautiful design. It's fun to play with and very easy to close, pick up, and move around. I truly enjoy that about these early castles - how easy they are to move, so you can adjust your kingdom much easier, or even move the castle from active play to a shelf. Inventory lists for this castle can be found on BrickLink or Rebrickable and a free download of the instructions can be found at ToysPeriod. If you want to know more about the designer, Daniel August Krentz, BrickSet did a really nice tribute and has a full list of everything he designed. Additionally, 10039-1 was included in a LEGO Legend Castle Collection (K10039) from 2003 alongside 10000-1 Guarded Inn (re-release from 2001) and 3739-1 Blacksmith Shop (from 2002).

[rmrroofing]

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[dansnaturepictures]

18/12/2022-American Wigeon and more at Pennington and bits at home 

We came to Pennington on a wet morning/early afternoon to look for this rarity, and I’m very pleased that we saw it. Thanks to the immense help of a kind person we saw on arrival who had seen it who pinpointed for us the exact area it was at and directions from someone we know online beforehand we got some lovely views of it on the banks beside Efford Lake viewing from the path from Lower Pennington Lane car park. It was a treat to see its creamy head and exotic emerald head stripe as its head went up and down with a flock of Wigeons. It was a very special bird to see, and relocated a few times in regular take offs from the group due to the regular presence of a soaring Marsh Harrier including onto the water at one point. This is a pleasing fifth new bird of 2022 for me, my first life tick since July, taking my life list to 282 and year list to 206. An extremely pleasing figure for me it was such a big thing getting to 200 for me again this year and then getting one more year tick to make my year list my highest ever so to be a fair way into the first tenth of the 200s for my first ever time is amazing. In an illustrious list of species I’ve been lucky to see for the very first time this year it’s another well known species which has been a theme of the year and it’s another American duck.

At Pennington it was also nice to see Gadwall, Mallard, one of my favourite birds the Brent Geese with some flying over and others gathered nicely in a field, Canada Goose, get nice views of Curlew and Oystercatcher, possibly Redshank, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull Blackbird well and Wren dashing into vegetation. Yellow gorse in flower as the second picture I took today in this photoset shows glowed like Christmas lights in the dreary weather, with teasel seed heads, remnants of dock I believe and cleavers looking nice hugging the low sides of the track alongside bramble bushes and trees. It was nice to take in some moody views over the water the third and fourth pictures in this photoset with Hurst Castle just visible in the distance. 

At home today I saw the Blackbird out the back really well again and Starlings this morning getting the first picture in this photoset of the former. This afternoon I enjoyed four Collared Doves lined up nicely on the roof of the garages looking atmospheric in the pouring rain which I took the fifth, sixth and seventh pictures in this photoset of before they came into the garden to feed which was a great sight. Starlings joined them too and Blue Tit, House Sparrow and Goldfinch were great to see in the garden today as well. I enjoyed raindrops on the windows as the rain persisted this afternoon/towards evening with the yellow, red, green and blue of the Christmas lights on the balcony behind lighting up the raindrops such a beautiful scene I did a re-creation of a shot I took on Christmas Day last year of this these shown in the eighth and ninth pictures in this photoset. On the way out today a Song Thrush in a garden near home was nice to see as was a little New Forest pony on the way back. It was interesting yesterday evening in Southampton as we returned from a festive tradition of ours going to a brilliant pantomime at the Mayflower Theatre to see a Black-headed Gull flying about at night time. A very memorable, relaxing and fun weekend, I hope you all have a good week.

[bbcmerlinvault]

[Article] "King of the castle"

by Michelle Griffin for The Sydney Morning Herald website on 21st May 2011 at 3:00 am. The majority of the article covers travel to Pierrefonds while the filming wasn't about, but there is a decent mention of the show so I've decided to pop it in the vault. It's also worth noting that due to this article now being over a decade old, the pricing listed at the end is out of date (at time of posting this, the Chateau de Pierrefonds website lists entry now at €9 rather than €7 and a concessions price doesn't appear to exist any more).

[Original source] (paywalled)

King of the castle

5–7 minutes

The towers of Chateau de Pierrefonds.Credit: AFP

Michelle Griffin joins a legion of Camelot fans beneath the fairytale towers of Chateau de Pierrefonds.

Many castles lay claim to being the original Camelot. The latest home of King Arthur's magical kingdom lies about 90 minutes north-east of Paris, in a glorious stone folly called Chateau de Pierrefonds.

For three months of the year, this imposing grey-stone pile is the location of the BBC series Merlin, which revamps the Arthurian legends as an awkward friendship between arrogant Prince Arthur and his teenage manservant, Merlin, who must keep his magical talents a secret. If, like the program, this castle is not exactly faithful to its mediaeval origins, it hardly matters to the fans who watch the camera crews re-enact battles, jousts and feasts for the fourth series.

They're not filming when my family and I decide to make a pilgrimage to the site of one of our favourite shows. But even without the catering vans blocking the archways and production teams roping off the staterooms, this mad 19th-century vision of the ideal mediaeval castle turns out to be a terrific day trip from the French capital.

"It truly is like the seventh or eighth character on the cast list," actor Anthony Head, who plays cruel King Uther, told website Monsters and Critics. "The stones still look new even though it's a few hundred years old ... It's not like a castle that's got bits missing and chunks taken out of it."

Looming above a tiny village in the Oise district, this restored mediaeval stronghold was one of France's favourite romantic ruins long before Napoleon III started rebuilding it in 1857. Cardinal Richelieu ordered its demolition in 1617, after the nobles within backed the wrong duke.

It's the remaining 14th-century twin towers that take our breath away as we walk up the steep hill to the entrance - especially "Charlemagne's tower", a round donjon with a peaked roof that local wisdom says is the inspiration for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

There has been a castle on this site since the 12th century. It's a strategic location, because invading armies have always marched down the Oise Valley. Julius Caesar fought the Gauls in this region. Joan of Arc fought the English in the surrounding forests and prayed unsuccessfully for victory in the church at nearby Compiegne. On the outskirts of Compiegne, a memorial stands on the abandoned rail line where the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. In 1940, Hitler made the French sign on his terms in the same rail carriage, which was then destroyed in Berlin.

Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the architect appointed by Napoleon III in 1857 to restore Pierrefonds, did far more than rebuild the ruined towers and the outer walls. Like the cathedral of Notre Dame, this castle was re-created as a 19th-century dream of the Middle Ages - a riot of gargoyles and arches and long, airy galleries with camera-ready sight lines. Steel girders prop soaring roofs, and walls are painted in intertwined stencils. Viollet-le-Duc died before the job was done and the money ran out when Napoleon III was deposed in 1870 but Pierrefonds still feels ready for its next royal.

A few huts - remnants of Merlin's lower village locations - line the walkway to the moat. The jousts are filmed on a green sward overlooking the valley. Through the enormous arched gateway, with its satisfyingly fierce portcullis, we discover a central courtyard that reminds us not only of the TV series but every Arthurian book illustration. A wide, sun-bleached staircase is fronted by a bronze knight and guarded by snarling griffins. Downspouts have been carved into lizards. A long walkway is decorated with earnest stone knights and demented gargoyles - screaming monkeys, vomiting dragons and a loony five-breasted monster, its jaw unhinged to poke out its curling tongue. This is where Uther and Arthur walk and talk about how best to repel the series' latest invasions. The draughty stateroom on the first floor of the main building hosts art exhibitions but is also the TV location for countless courtly confrontations before the throne.

Climbing the stairs to half-decorated chambers and echoing arched corridors is tremendous fun for anyone who ever read childhood novels about being transported back in time - it speaks as much of Rapunzel or Narnia as Camelot. Every time we lean out a window, flocks of pigeons take off in loops above the castle roofs. Our one regret is that we cannot climb to the very top and peer out between the Lego blocks of the battlements.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

Emirates has a fare to Paris for about $2070 low-season return from Melbourne and Sydney, including tax. You fly to Dubai (14hr), then Paris (7hr 30min).

To get to Chateau de Pierrefonds from Paris by car take the A1 motorway, or go by train to Compiegne, followed by a 20-minute, €20 ($26.60) taxi ride to Pierrefonds; voyages-sncf.com. A bus runs to Pierrefonds from Compiegne twice a day; oise-mobilite.fr.

Visiting there

Chateau de Pierrefonds is open daily from 9.30am to 6pm until September 4 and from 10am-1pm and 2-5.30pm Tuesday to Sunday from September 5 to April 30. Entry is €7, concession €4.50, under 18 free; pierrefonds.monuments-nationaux.fr/en.

[the-skeleton-lord]

Gelatinous Cubes and a Young Dragon

For the last year or so I have been running a consistent campaign of Dark Heresy, taking a break in the summer while people were out of the city for vacation. However, this week two of my five players told me they would be absent right as they are about to start a new mission. Normally I would just play through them not being there but it seemed like a bad idea to set up the whole scenario, not get much done, then have to re-explain everything again but worse since it would just be an info dump. Luckily the night before I had a gut feeling something like this might happen so I quickly prepped something different.

My players were surprised when I told them that we are playing d&d 5e today instead and they had 45 minutes to each build a level 5 character. They threw together a human wizard, a half-elf barbarian, and an elf rogue. The adventure was a simple conversion of Ruins of Castle Korvald from 4e, a quick trek through a ruined fort where a young white dragon has moved in and has a few constructs to guard the place.

The first challenge the players faced was getting into the castle. Normally this should be a simple choice between either walking in the front gate (and getting ambushed by constructs) or making a relatively easy athletics check to climb the hill the fort is on and go in through one of the ruined walls. The players were still in acolyte mode and decided to conduct a thorough sweep of the area before making a decision. They were given a description of the castle, the surrounding cliffs, and they discovered a single set of humanoid tracks along the road leading to the castle (que discussion about if the dragon is powerful enough to shape shift). Ultimately the party decides that the side entrance is too obvious and must be a trap so they go in the front... and get ambushed despite their efforts to scout the area using the rogue and the wizard’s weasel familiar.

Two animated armors, two iron defenders, and two walking crossbow turrets attack the party while they are standing on a bridge between two towers. Thinking quickly the party jumps off the bridge and hides underneath to avoid the crossbow fire and fight the four constructs as they follow. Barb holds them back but gets his but kicked while the wizard casts shocking grasp and the rogue keeps failing to hit anything. Once the party deals with the melee enemies the barb runs out from cover, avoiding arrows and gets to a point where he can climb up the crumbling wall in safety. He clambers up the wall and gets into melee with the turrets while the wizard shoots magic missiles through the arrow slits.

The barbarian climbs back down the wall and raises the portcullis to let the other two into the castle proper. The rogue notices a secret door on the floor and the party climbs down into the hole to see where it goes (they assume its safer than walking around out in the open). The rogue scouts forward a short distance and doesn't see or hear anything, but he does feel that it is much colder in this tunnel than it is outside. The party decides that its probably safe to take a short rest here despite figuring out the dragon's nest must be connected to the tunnels in some way. What the rogue did not realize is that he just barely avoided the detection radius of a pair of gelatinous cubes in the tunnel. During the rest the weasel familiar was set deeper into the tunnels and (lacking any dark vision) was easy prey for the cubes. The wizard was informed the weasel was suddenly killed but there was no indication as to how.

Undaunted, the party continues forward through the darkness. They party reaches an intersection where they can go right or straight. To the left they can see the glow of winter sunlight coming through a hole in the roof but decide to go straight instead. The cube that killed the weasel silently follows. They realize that the tunnel they are following must go underneath the wall of the castle as they reach a corner with another secret trap door entering an empty tower. They stay in the tunnel and discuss what to do next while the cube slowly catches up to them. Lucky for the party the rogue notices the cube approaching and they shoot at it with ranged weapons and spells. It becomes very clear that my players have never dealt with a gelatinous cube in a confined space and dont realize how much danger they are in as they keep delaying climbing out of the trap door until the last second. Its an easy DC 10 athletics check to climb out of the hole under pressure; the wizard goes first and fails his check as he struggles to lift himself up, the barbarian easily passes and I let him use his action to pull the wizard up DC 10 again but he fails, the rogue goes last and also fails the check asks to use his cunning action dash to try again and fails the roll anyway.

The wizard and the rogue decide to run away down the tunnel while the barbarian watches the cube pass below. The stranded pair make a run for it through the dark and realize there is another path to the center of the caster where they can see the light. They take that path looking for another way out when they spot the second cube that has also spotted them. Realizing they are about to get pincered between the two cubes they make a break for it and try to get through the hole in the roof before the cube blocks them in. Its a very easy DC 5 athletics check to climb up the pile of rubble which the wizard makes but the rogue again gets his foot stuck or something. He asks to use his dash to try again again but this time dislodges himself and makes it above ground as right as the cubes catch up and then give up the chase and retreat back into the tunnels to look for prey.

We take an IRL break for a few minutes and I ask the players if they know what gelatinous cubes are/do and they all say no before looking it up and realize how much danger they were in.

Moving forward the players poke around the castle grounds and deduce where the dragon is hiding. Nothing of note happens other than they miss or ignore every piece of loot they could have found. Next step is the tower with the dragon in it. The rogue sneaks up and passes his perception check which tells him there is a campfire lit inside the tower, the sound of metal on stone (iron defender), and a single humanoid inside (an orc emissary from the nearby clan here to try to ally with the dragon). The party kicks in the door, gets a surprise round and kills the iron defender and orc thanks to the rogue's assassin ability. Then they realize the dragon isnt here... and then they hear it start moving below them.

The dragon climbs up from a hole in the floor and immediately breath attacks the barbarian who fails his save. He's still standing but hit hard. The wizard casts haste on the barbarian, the rogue shoots an arrow, and the barbarian slips and falls on the icy floor caused by the breath attack. The dragon rolls a six to recharge his breath attack and fires it again at the barbarian who passes his save (thanks to haste) is knocked unconscious anyway. It then takes to the air and moves over to the rogue, it uses its reach to keep the rogue in threatened space while also being out of reach.

The wizard runs over to the barbarian and uses his potion of greater healing on him, risking slipping but passes the check. The barbarian gets up, rages, and (still hasted) unleashes a furry of attacks on the dragon with his glaive. The rogue uses his cunning action to disengage and shoot with an arrow. For a second time in a row the dragon recharges his breath attack and sprays the barbarian. He makes his save and the damage roll is low enough that he stays up.

Next the wizard casts web on the dragon and on the dragon's turn it fails its save and falls to the ground restrained. The barbarian and rogue get in a big chunk of damage while they have the opportunity but then the wizard's true plan is revealed. He casts fireball at the group and, because he is an evocation wizard, nominated his two allies as being excluded. The rogue easily makes his check and the barbarian passes due to haste, the damage isnt quite enough to kill the dragon but the wizard then points out that the webs igniting cause extra damage which was exactly enough to slay the dragon.

[slightlycrazylovelessfamily-blog]

We are back, 8 years later. Why not keep a daily journal of our adventures again, so here we go.

Quotes of the trip:

- Children fill a void you didn’t know you had

Day 1: Tailwind

It seems these days when you take a red eye there is a tailwind. No complaints, just noticing. It isn’t right to complain about tailwinds…bad mojo.

We left JFK around 615pm Saturday, July 30th for Milan. An accident near JFK made it a little tighter than we hoped…perhaps 15 mins before boarding started. Sleeping wasn’t great on the 7.5 hour flight. Dinner was good, a few episodes of The Last Dance for me, Dungeons and Dragons or straight to sleep for others.

We got our 9 passenger VW van (stick shift) and away we went to Lake Como where Stacy had arranged a lunch. As we were approaching the restaurant we saw what looked like Old Town and found a parking spot. Following a local family with a stroller we hit the gold mine. Slowly it changed from sleepy, shutters closed, walking between castles to vibrate market with coffee shops, a beautiful church and lots of people. I tried my first coffee - cappuccino - which wasn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll be an addict anytime soon.

Putting our plan together to have lunch and get into Milan for a tour of the Duomo Milan - we bought tickets and split up to position the car for a quick getaway. We discover the intricacies of driving in areas that are also plazas for pedestrians - not even sure cars should or could be allowed in, but they were.

Lunch over looking Lake Como was sensational. Private club to the left, lake in front and smiles all around. A nice walk, the sights of water are great for fighting off jet lag.

We drive a little more than an hour to find our airbnb next to a canal, drop off our bags, and zoom off to the Duomo. Again, cutting it tight, the last people are allowed up to the Terrace at 410 and it was 405ish. Not sure what this was all about, we get out of the elevator to find ourselves on the marble roof of a massive cathedral - seemingly as large as any other. It seems to be on the back end of a complete cleaning and restoration project. The detail at the top - where it can’t be seen from the street, is incredible. To walk around in the shade and the sun, was unlike anything we have ever done nor will likely be able to do again. No way you can do this in the US; that said, it was a brilliant way to draw visitors in, have a chance to talk about God, (re)introduce God, create a moment to be grateful, pray for others, imagine what it must have been like to…

For everything I could remember, it seemed like the grandest church I have ever seen. At least 60 marble columns that seemed at least 8 stories tall. FACTS: it is the largest church in Italy, yes largest; 3rd largest in the world and construction started in 1386. There are 52 internal pillars that are 11 feet in diameter and 78 feet tall. It has more statues 3,400+ and gargoyles 135 and 700 figures, than any building in the world. It was incredible, both in beauty and in scale. To imagine this was built so long ago and still a marvel, is incredible. Check the video below of the opera singer outside the Duomo that you could hear singing on the roof, it was like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.

No trip to Europe is complete without at least one church stop, so after checking that off the list we went to our airbnb, an apartment with AC near a main metro stop. After watching Friends episode, the showers started, mom and I went to grab some groceries and dinner. I went to bed about 7 and I’m sure by 830 all was quiet. It had been a great first day that we all powered through.

Day 2: Just like new

Alarms had to be set for 930 to make sure we didn’t sleep to late. We needed to give ourselves time to be out by 11am and on to our next adventure, which was the Cinque Terre town of Monterosso al Mare. About a 3 hour drive toward the Ocean, we got our first taste of winding, narrow roads that seem like Cat Rock Road. A temperamental transmission rearing its head and opposing drivers that seem to like the middle of the narrow road made it a good intro for the legendary Amalfi Coast road ahead. Our mirror got its first hit, but once we got to our destination we realized it just popped into place and it was just like new.

The drive into town and to our apartment was only doable with google maps, it would be hard to describe otherwise. Our parking spot could only be introduced to us with video, again to hard to describe in native language, much less another. It required a key, a gate, faith and being good at using the clutch going up hill. The walk back was twice as quick, again, with a sense of adventure, a little faith and lots of luck, we found a trail as if we were locals.

Quick change and head to the beach - smiles and happiness were instantly found in the blue waters of the Ligurian Sea. A big rock was a great place to swim out, climb and jump back into the water - Piper holds the record for number of jumps.

Again, I’m reminded the common happy place is near water, ideally a beach with waves.

A walk, a return to the apartment, showers and a plan for dinner emerges. Catina Miky is found and devoured. Date night for me and Stacy with the kids at a separate table. Both tables started with anchovies, which is the speciality of the area, which was great. Stacy and I had two more fish courses of specialities but still saved room for gelato. Two and half hours for dinner in Italy requires the neutral gear; perhaps at some point I’ll be able to be so chill, I won’t need to ask for the check.

We head out of the restaurant to find a full moon so close it seemed we could reach out and touch it.

Day 3

[jezabelofthenorth]

The Tudors in Love: The Courtly Code Behind the Last Medieval Dynasty, Sarah Gristwood (23 September 2021)

The dramas of courtly love have captivated centuries of readers and dreamers. Yet too often they’re dismissed as something existing only in books and song – those old legends of King Arthur and chivalric fantasy. Not so. In this ground-breaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way courtly love made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant’ of Anne Boleyn to the poems lavished on Elizabeth I by her suitors, the Tudors re-enacted the roles of the devoted lovers and capricious mistresses first laid out in the romances of medieval literature. The Tudors in Love dissects the codes of love, desire and power, unveiling romantic obsessions that have shaped the history of this nation. 

Woodsmoke and Sage: The Five Senses 1485-1603: How the Tudors Experienced the World, Amy Licence (31 August 2021)

Using the five senses, historian Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors’ relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their backs, the roofs over their heads and the food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and what they believed about life, death and beyond. Take a journey back 500 years and experience the sixteenth century the way it was lived, through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. 

Usurpers, A New Look at Medieval Kings, Michele Morrical (30 September 2021)

In the Middle Ages, England had to contend with a string of usurpers who disrupted the British monarchy and ultimately changed the course of European history by deposing England\x27s reigning kings and seizing power for themselves. Some of the most infamous usurper kings to come out of medieval England include William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois, Henry Bolingbroke, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry Tudor. Did these kings really deserve the title of usurper or were they unfairly vilified by royal propaganda and biased chroniclers? In this book we examine the lives of these six medieval kings, the circumstances which brought each of them to power, and whether or not they deserve the title of usurper 

The Boleyns of Hever Castle, Owen Emmerson and Claire Ridgway (1 August 2021)

In The Boleyns of Hever Castle, historians Owen Emmerson and Claire Ridgway invite you into the home of this notorious family.

Travel back in time to those 77 years of Boleyn ownership. Tour each room just as it was when Anne Boleyn retreated from court to escape the advances of Henry VIII or when she fought off the dreaded 'sweat'. See the 16th century Hever Castle come to life with room reconstructions and read the story of the Boleyns, who, in just five generations, rose from petty crime to a castle, from Hever to the throne of England.

Fêting the Queen: Civic Entertainments and the Elizabethan Progress, John Mark Adrian (30 December 2021)

While previous scholars have studied Elizabeth I and her visits to the homes of influential courtiers, Fêting the Queen places a new emphasis on the civic communities that hosted the monarch and their efforts to secure much needed support. Case studies of the university and cathedral cities of Oxford, Canterbury, Sandwich, Bristol, Worcester, and Norwich focus on the concepts of hospitality and space―including the intimate details of the built environment.

Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain’s Lost Love of the Orient, Fatima Manji (12 August 2021)

Throughout Britain's galleries and museums, civic buildings and stately homes, relics can be found that beg these questions and more. They point to a more complex national history than is commonly remembered. These objects, lost, concealed or simply overlooked, expose the diversity of pre-twentieth-century Britain and the misconceptions around modern immigration narratives. Hidden Heritage powerfully recontextualises the relationship between Britain and the people and societies of the Orient. In her journey across Britain exploring cultural landmarks, Fatima Manji searches for a richer and more honest story of a nation struggling with identity and the legacy of empire.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History, James Clark (14 September 2021)

Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England’s monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII’s subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people. 

Catherine of Aragon: Infanta of Spain, Queen of England, Theresa Earenfight (15 December 2021)

Despite her status as a Spanish infanta, Princess of Wales, and Queen of England, few of her personal letters have survived, and she is obscured in the contemporary royal histories. In this evocative biography, Theresa Earenfight presents an intimate and engaging portrait of Catherine told through the objects that she left behind. 

Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688, Clare Jackson (30 September 2021)

As an unmarried heretic with no heir, Elizabeth I was regarded with horror by Catholic Europe, while her Stuart successors, James I and Charles I, were seen as impecunious and incompetent, unable to manage their three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The traumatic civil wars, regicide and a republican Commonwealth were followed by the floundering, foreign-leaning rule of Charles II and his brother, James II, before William of Orange invaded England with a Dutch army and a new order was imposed.