#because mounts and power creep have made it so playing the game in order is bad

[girlbob-boypants]

They should disable mounts for Dragon Stand tbh

[anarchy-n-glitter]

Nothing to Fear

Summary:

Lake County, Colorado

2011

JJ's been located in the asylum. Dr. Crane steps deeper into the monster's den.

(Warnings: Gore, implied torture, referenced self harm)

MASTERLIST

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

CHAPTER 6

She wanted to cry. She saw him, sitting alone in a cell and she was sure he was unaware of their watching eyes. Trager stood next to her, his hand on her hip to keep her close. This whole situation, she had determined, was a way to show his power over her. She wouldn’t let him do this to her, though, nor would she allow him to do this to the people she loved. By the end of tomorrow night, he’ll be the one sitting in that cell.

J.J. was staring at the wall blankly, facing them, and she could see the horrible, bloody wounds around his mouth. She was reminded of what Trager said to her when they made that deal, how J.J. was admitted due to a “meltdown,” and she assumed he ended up hurting himself. She glanced at Trager from the corner of her eye. She didn’t trust him one bit, and for some strange reason she had no doubt that he had something to do with this. She had never seen J.J. so lifeless, even when he was in Arkham he was lively and trying his best. Here he looked like he was comatose. His vivid green eyes that were usually bright and full of life were dull and stared blankly at the wall, and she knew someone had hurt him.

“I want him transferred to Arkham back in Gotham.” She stated, loud enough and forcefully enough for Trager to understand that she was going to get what she wanted, whether he did it or she did.

“His doctor’s there and she can help. We can’t treat him here and you know it.” She continued. His grip on her tightened and he seemed to bring her closer to him. He was silent, thinking probably. She could see his face in the reflection and he seemed less than pleased. She knew he could see her too, but that didn’t stop her. Suddenly, a smirk broke out on his face.

“Come to my place after dinner tomorrow and you got yourself a deal.” He offered, and Dr. Crane felt her heart speed up. She knew she was in dangerous territory, and now she had to negotiate her way out of it. After Michelle’s story, there was no way she’d go back to his house.

“Make it my apartment.” She stated, and she watched his eyes widen. He arched an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by her boldness.

“Oh? What’s wrong with my place?” He asked, though she was sure he’d be fine with going to her apartment instead. Either way, he thought he was getting laid, it didn’t matter the setting.

“It’s up to you, really. I’d just rather we go to my apartment.” She explained. She made sure she kept her face blank, or even made it seem like she was mildly interested in the conversation.

“Alright, fine. Your place it is.” He finally agreed. Mentally, she felt herself decompress. If he continued to be so stubborn she had no choice but to reveal what she knew, yet, she didn’t want to do that. The information revealed to her was integral and she knew she couldn’t show all of her cards at once. If she was going to show that she was truly in control, then she would have to wait. She would have to wait until he was at her mercy, begging to be released from whatever bind he was in. Hell, maybe she’d make him fall in love with her - if that was even possible - and then she’d reveal the truth. The whole truth. That she could never love a man like him, and (hopefully) he’d be locked away for what he did.

“I’ll tell Blaire about the transfer request, I’ll say it came from that new girl… your assistant, what was her name again? It’s something that starts with a D, right?” Trager asked, though she felt like he was stalling. Other than how that was obviously a bad idea, she disagreed because she feared him targeting Dr. Dawes after her. She wouldn’t be shocked, after all, she was younger than her, and shorter, and she had blonde hair and bright green eyes. She was stunning, and the creep that currently held Cat like a lover would have to have noticed her. There was no doubt he would go after her. Not only that, but she was young and impressionable, she was new too, which would give him even more power over her than he ever held with Michelle and Cat.

“Dr. Dawes? No, she’s too close to me. They’d suspect I put in the request the moment they confront her. Just skip the middleman and say I did it, after all, I knew his doctor, I know who can treat him.” She stated calmly, and she could have sworn she saw him thinking, saw him putting the pieces together, and it made her sick.

“Alright, whatever you say Cat.” She remained calm, her face stoic.

2

He pushed a few molars around in the palm of his hand, completely fascinated by how the light reflected off of the bright, white teeth. He had cleaned them off to the best of his abilities, though he was sure his buyers wouldn’t mind. They were more than capable of removing any evidence that someone could trace back to him and Mount Massive, though maybe that’s what they’d want. In order for that to happen though, they had to be caught, and they wouldn’t want that.

He was getting a pretty penny for ol’ Jack Jr.’s teeth, and the less Cat Crane knew about that, the better. As it turned out, J.J. showing up that day was a godsend. He had a history of mental illness, though his files said nothing about self harm he knew from his experience working in the asylum that a mental breakdown could trigger an extreme reaction like that. J.J. was the perfect person to do that to, and he served a few other purposes. He needed teeth for his buyers, and he needed Cat’s attention, something he could hold over her for a little bit until she was desperate. He succeeded in that.

For some strange reason, he felt like she was someone who could understand him. He thought this the moment he laid eyes on her, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. He enjoyed the little game they played, where she acted like she despised him when he knew that deep down, she was as fascinated by him as he was with her. Yes, he did hope things would go his way tomorrow night, and he would absolutely love to just do his thing and leave her behind, but he was coming to the realization that he just couldn’t. If he were to have her, there would be no going back, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of her if he tried, even if she wanted nothing to do with him in the end.

They were people of science, after all, and while he was a doctor in everything but name, he felt she could complete him in that sense. Under all that cold, bitter attitude, he knew she was just as unhinged and violent as he was. He was the antithesis of everything she was, and that’s what he liked about her. She wasn’t like him, but he could tell that at their very cores, they were the same. He wanted to show her that.

Deep down, he wanted to believe she’d be lost without him.

Blaire strolled into his office, making Trager curl his hand into a fist, hiding the teeth from his friend. While he was sure he knew about his little “business,” Trager didn’t want to risk anything. To be honest, he wasn’t in much of a talking mood at the moment. He wanted to clear his mind and get ready to bring the teeth to his customers, and he wanted to think about his next move. That was the thing with Cat Crane, when he thought he was ahead, she was only a step ahead of him. It didn’t take much to change that little pattern, but he hadn’t gotten as far as he wanted to. She was still able to take control of her situation - and he knew it was a situation she wasn’t fond of - and turn the tables on him. Now he was stuck having to improvise.

On one hand, he’d now know where she lived, but on the other… there was no way in hell Cat was gonna let him anywhere near her willingly.

“You’re coming tomorrow, right?” Blaire asked after what felt like forever. In reality, it had only been a moment. Trager was stuck in his own head that day, but it was something that couldn’t be helped.

“Yeah, totally, bud. Don’t worry. You won’t believe who I got to go out with me.” He told him, leaning forward with a wide smile on his face. Blaire scoffed.

“Ugh, don’t tell me it’s that weird broad you’ve been bothering for the past few weeks.” Blaire rolled his eyes at the thought of it. There was no doubt Trager blackmailed the new doctor into going, and he was sure the fallout of his terrible decisions would end up hurting the company. He warned him when they first hired Dr. Crane, but he knew Trager wouldn’t listen.

“Oh yeah, it’s her alright. That guy I had you admit was the bait.” Blaire glared at his friend.

“Ricky,” he began sternly, moving closer to the nonchalant man’s desk. “Don’t tell me that’s why you had me do that.” When Trager didn’t answer, Blaire knew he was right.

“Oh god this is gonna be terrible for the company.” Blaire muttered, running his fingers through his thin, greasy hair.

“Come on, Jer. I made sure he didn’t know it was me. If he does know, he won’t figure it out for a while. Cat wants him transferred back to Arkham, but if you really don’t trust it we can just send someone with him.” He practically watched the small man’s face grow red.

“Oh? And who the hell would that be.” Trager stopped to think about this, before the image of the small, blonde doctor came to mind.

“Dr. Dawes.”

“She’s new, but she’s been around Dr. Crane’s experiments. Too risky.” Trager shook his head.

“If you think Arkham isn’t crawling with corruption too, buddy, then you have another thing coming.” Trager answered, his tone bordering on threatening.

“I assume you’ve done your research?” Blaire asked, and Trager nodded. With a sigh, Blaire finally agreed, leaving Trager’s office shortly after, leaving the man alone with his thoughts and teeth again.

[queersplendent-deactivated]

So I'm in a Pathfinder game now

Under a cut for rambling.

[[MORE]]

Background for this is that my GM and I are both autistic, and while he's been running a Marvel Super Heroes game with me for years, he really wanted to run the Kingmaker adventure path, and I was initially the only player signing on. Once it looked like no one else was interested, I rolled up my sleeves and made a party of three characters to run, by myself, simultaneously. You know, as one does. (I've been doing it in the Marvel game forever anyway.)

My sister agreed to play at the last minute, but not only was the module balanced for four characters anyway (the GM planned to tweak as we went for three), but I was already deeply invested in my concepts and had micromanaged lists of equipment, so we just went ahead with me running three characters and them running one.

But the GM also altered Kingmaker, setting it years after the module usually starts, after the "original" adventuring party died on mission and now a new one is being sent. So we're individually traveling to this trading post, having individually signed on with a mercenary company for an excursion into the Stolen Lands. The quest is ostensibly just to kill the bandits there, not to settle the Greenbelt, since that failed spectacularly before.

Drama happens -- Pöl is so taciturn no one realizes she's part of the company when they arrive later and find her covering guard shifts, and Laura gets the usual welcome that tieflings get and threatens to clock someone with a porridge pot. Ismene avoids anything resembling making friends. Xian shows up in the middle of the night without being let in by the guards and causes a scene when discovered in the morning. But whatever, it's fine, all four PCs are there and waiting for the rest of the company to arrive.

This does not occur. Instead a bunch of flashy lights happen, and a huge fuckoff nymph shows up in the sky, and suddenly the Greenbelt is cut off from the outside by a big grey cloud and all the forest critters are strangely mutated, and general fey-related dickery is suspected. The rest of the company will now not arrive, and We're It.

So of course some bandits show up to take over the trading post, having shat a brick when dimensional stuff started and looking for a defensible position.

The bandits are very sorry in short order. Laura, an ex-paladin brawler, begins the fight by scoring a knockout on one guy's horse, at which point he's taken out while prone by Xian, with her 3d6 of sneak attack. Pöl gets a couple with her dueling sword, and Ismene snipes with her crossbow.

Once all five lesser bandits are dead, the bandit leader takes off, pushing his horse for extra speed; Laura mounts a now-riderless bandit horse and nabs Ismene, and they go haring off after the leader at breakneck speed. After being plinked so much he takes a potion, he finally looks like he might escape into the treeline, so Ismene... shoots the horse. This works, and Laura finishes off the bandit. (The horse survived, was given a healing spell, and was walked back to the trading post, where he now is well-tended.)

There's a huge drunken celebration at the trading post, Xian and Ismene do a bardic performance and roll ridiculously high, and things are great. However, the killing of these bandits turns out to have created a time-sensitive issue: the actual bandit commander and most of her better guys are a few days away, and will eventually come looking for her missing men. The party decides to set out the next day to find and clear the camp.

We find the bandits asleep and scout them out, and formulate a plan. See, it turns out that in addition to a brawler, we have one full rogue, one bard-rogue, and one slayer with an emphasis on stealth, so we decide on a nighttime ambush.

Laura is extremely not-sneaky and waits out of visual distance with the tethered horses, wearing a camouflage net and waiting on a signal to let her know if she's needed for abrupt melee; the other three creep up to the bandits' two sentry towers, Ismene hiding in the brush while Pöl and Xian climb nearby trees.

Both bandit sentries are taken out in a single round, unable to alert their fellows, but once kill is too close to the camp and the sound wakes some of them, including the boss lady. She spots Ismene, and shit begins with the piercing whistle that lets Laura know we didn't have time to set up traps or get the rest of them stealthily. Ismene responds to the charging bandit boss by flinging down a vial of oil and a vial of alchemist's fire (generously donated by the first group of highwaymen) as she flees for cover, singeing the boss's face and making her REALLY cranky.

While Pöl tries to distract for Ismene and is quickly surrounded, Laura comes barreling in, ready to start swinging. The bandits decide that no, their boss can handle the literal demon who appeared over by that tree that's on fire, and gang up on Pöl.

Xian is still undetected, having been up the further-out sentry tower, and gets a sneaky kill, then uses Eerie Disappearance to unnerve the bandits; she's secretly a type of kitsune, and her flashing eyes as she vanishes make the bandits think maybe she's a demon also, which concerns them.

The fight is ugly, and near the end Pöl gets dropped to -1. At nearly the same time, the bandit boss is significantly hurting Laura, and Ismene has run over to heal her with a bard spell. Just before the boss lady can knock out Laura, there's Xian again, sneak-stabbing her from behind and dropping her. The rest of the bandits scatter.

We, however, are not content to let them escape, much like before, and take off after them in different directions. Laura gets one, and then goes back to give Pöl a potion; Ismene uses Expeditious Retreat and Xian follows under stealth, as the last two bandits are running the same way. The GM has broken out proper chase rules at this point.

Ismene eventually plinks one to death with her crossbow, but the other is a bit further out, and the terrain is being a bitch to get through. Xian outpaces her by rolling better against the obstacles, but not by much, so Ismene turns a corner to see the last bandit having his throat chewed by a weird-looking fennec fox, whom she is unaware is actually Xian. This bandit takes at least 20 damage and is now dead. Ismene is nonplussed.

After failing to put two and two together, and also failing to find Xian, she collects the bandits' gear and goes back to the camp, where Laura and the now-awake Pöl are repeatedly filling a waterproof bag at a nearby stream to combat the forest fire Ismene started. Xian herself shows up not long after with a story of falling into the river during the chase and getting temporarily swept away, which the rest of us buy because why not, and also because Xian is 4-foot-7 and that could happen.

Fire is put out, and the bandit boss lady is hogtied (since we'd killed the other bandit leader and learned exactly zero of worth from his minions, we have interrogation in mind), we loot the camp and the bodies, and we head back for the trading post.

So the bandit boss lady turns out to be basically a local boogeyman who personally cut off the hand of the guy who runs this trading post, and we just turn up, four days after we'd left on what the whole post assumed was probably a suicide mission, and dump the boss lady at the feet of the guard captain. Everyone wants to buy us drinks.

That's where we are now! We've recovered some of the OG Greenbelt charters and realized that they're probably still good, and it's not like we can leave the Greenbelt now on account of the dimensional nymph fuckery, so this is Our Turf now. We're beginning to outfit the post itself with the bandit treasure we don't need (loot communists ftw), and plan to sink resources into making it a safe-ish place for us to operate from as we begin to map the area and take out more bandits, not to mention look at the 20+ side quests on the bounty board.

We've agreed: for now, our group is called The Company.

Stay tuned! Will Xian cop to being a fox, solving the mystery of why local fauna decided to end that man? Will Ismene pincushion anyone else or will she just go mad with the prospect of power? Will Pöl learn to socialize? Will Laura reveal her stormy ex-paladin past? Most pressing, will the GM give us enough time to make Craft checks next session?

[mycatshuman]

Dark Hood: Chapter 12

Warnings: Violence, blood, some tears, gun, daggers, deciet, please let me know if I missed any.

As Logan, Roman and Dr. Picani set off behind them, Virgil set his hand on one of his daggers. He was not going to let them catch him off guard. He snuck forward with Remy and Patton, turning the inside of his foot outwards as the three of them crept forward. As they passed each door, they would look in to confirm that they were empty. Virgil's purple eyes surveyed the area thoroughly as they covered more ground.

Virgil could tell the severity of the situation was getting to them. Patton would normally be joking and making puns every five minutes, instead, he was creeping along, one hand on a gun loaded with wooden bullets and the other rested on a wooden stake. Virgil saw Patton's fear in the shifting of his emerald eyes.

Virgil winced inwardly. This was all his fault. If he hadn't brought Patton into this, Patton would probably be working in a bakery or preschool somewhere. He might even be with a man he loved and a few adopted children. Patton would have a nice normal family if it weren't for Virgil. Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and shook the thought out of his head. Patton had chosen this. Virgil wouldn't have been able to stop him if he wanted to. Patton could be pretty stubborn at times.

Virgil glanced at Remy. He couldn't see the vampire's eyes, as they were hidden behind his ever present sunglasses, but Virgil was sure there was fear and determination in Remy's eyes. He was the only one without a weapon, but everyone knew he could hold his own. Virgil had even insisted that Remy drink five blood bags that morning in order to build his strength. Remy had obeyed without much of a fuss, knowing that Virgil was right.

Virgil's face twisted into a frown when they cleared yet another hallway. "Where are they?" He growled lowly.

Remy turned to him. "I'm not sure. Where do you guys think they would be?" He asked.

Patton shrugged. "Maybe we should try to think where they would go?" He suggested.

Virgil forrowed his eyebrows. "This whole thing is to show us that they have the power. That they are in control." Virgil glanced at the others through the his bangs. "Who is the one with power in a school?"

Patton gasped. "The principals office!"

Virgil nodded grimly. "Yup. We should get going." Remy and Patton nodded and together they set off down the empty cold hallway.

As they snuck to where they believed the office to be, Virgil felt dread settle into his stomach. He really hoped everything went well.

⚡⚡

Roman eyed Dr. Picani wearily. The man seemed alright but Roman didn't want to be caught off guard so he decided to keep an eye on him to be sure. He let out a silent sigh. This was going to be alot of work. Roman wondered what they would find. Would the children already be dead? Would there be anyone left? He quickly shook the morbid thoughts from his head. He had to hold on to hope. He couldn't let himself spiral down a deep dark hole. He wouldn't allow himself to have those thoughts.

Roman kept a hand on his sword as they snuck through the hallways. He took a glance at Logan to see a concerned frown as the man's dark eyebrows were drawn low over his blue eyes. Logan was just as nervous as Roman was. Maybe even more.That made him feel a little better. At least he wasn't alone in his fear. Roman ran a hand through his hair as he tried to remember the number of children in this school. What had Remy said? 500? 600? Roman pushed the numbers to the back of his head. It didn't matter how many, it mattered that they were rescued and safe.

Roman couldn't stop the sense of dread building in his stomach. He opened his mouth. "Where do you guys think they are?" He asked in an attempt to distract himself.

Dr. Picani turned to him. Roman felt himself calm slightly as he looked into the man's soft blue eyes.

Picani shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. They would most likely want to put them somewhere they wouldn't get in the way too much..." Picani trailed off as he looked up thoughtfully. "They might have them locked in the gym. It's big enough and they have room to run if they need to let out energy. It might keep them distracted if need be," Picani answered as he pushed his glasses further up his nose.

Logan nodded an affirmative nod. "Dr. Picani-"

"Emile. Call me Emile."

Logan tried to keep his face neutral at being interrupted. "Okay... Emile, is right. They most likely would have to kill every child because of the fact that it would be a challenging task to keep a few hundred children in line. The best option is to keep them distracted. Henceforth, playing games in the gym. Let's just hope they kept the staff in the same place. We don't want to have to go on another man hunt to find them. That could throw a dent in our plan," Logan explained.

Roman huffed. "Well, then let's get going. If we screw this up, Logan's gonna have our heads," Roman strode forward.

"I'm right here, Roman. As long as I am here, everything will go according to plan," Logan said as he followed after Roman, a hand on a water gun filled with vervain infused water.

Roman threw a grin back at Logan. "I know that, Sherlock. I was just letting Emile know that if me or him ended up screwing up your plan you would have us mounted on a wall."

Emile let out a light laugh as Logan rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses. Roman could see the slight twist up on Logan's mouth and knew that Logan was fighting to keep a smile off his face.

Roman turned forward again and led the way to where they thought the gym might be. The whole way, Roman fought against the bundle of fear, worry, nerves, and dread building in the pit of his stomach. Everything is going to be fine. We'll get the hostagess out. Virgil, Patton and Remy were going to be okay. Once this was all over they would all go home and watch a movie. He might even get to sit next to Virgil.(Not that Roman was going to let anybody know that he wanted to sit next to the emo nightmare.) Everything was going to be fine.

Roman pushed a small smile onto his face as he repeated the words in his head. He just had to make sure he did everything right and not mess up. Everything was going to be okay.

Little did Roman know how wrong he could be.

⚡⚡

When Remy, Patton and Virgil neared the door to the Principal's office, Remy froze and held his hand up to stop the others from coming any closer. He turned to them and put a finger to his lips, letting them know they were in there.

Virgil made a kicking motion with his foot, letting the other two know that he wanted to kick down the door. They nodded and stood to either side of the door. Virgil grabbed his heavy duty water gun and took a deep silent breath. He put his finger on the trigger. He stepped forward and brought his foot up and kicked the door in with all his might.

He quickly stepped in with Remy and Patton following close behind. Patton held up his gun as Remy leaned back against the wall in an attempt to look like he wasn't intimidated.

There in front of them sat five vampires. They were shrouded in darkness as the light above them was dark. Virgil scanned through the line and noticed a glittering yellow eye at the end of the line. Deciet. He should have know Deciet had a part in this.

"Virgil!" The vampire in the middle exclaimed in a deep voice. "Welcome. I'm glad you could make it! Did you like your gift?"

Virgil frowned. "Gift?" He asked, confused.

The vampire smiled. "Yes. After all, I did all of this for you," the vampire grinned.

Virgil suppressed a shudder. "There are better ways of getting my attention," Virgil spat. He was not going to give them anything else to use against him.

The vampire seemed to notice that Virgil was frightened. His mouth twisted into a sadistic smile. "So, I suppose you have made your choice?" He asked.

"Choice? What choice?" Patton spoke up, risking a glance at Virgil.

Virgil stiffened and ignored Patton. "Yes, I have," Virgil answered, his eyes trained on the vampire infront of him.

"What are they talking about?" Remy asked as he spared a glance at Virgil. He frowned as he heard Virgil's heart pick up.

"Nothing," Virgil lied through gritted teeth.

Remy frowned. "What choice, Virgil?" He asked, his voice dangerously low. Virgil refused to answer.

The vampire in front of them grinned. "Oh! He didn't tell you?" He asked with mock surprise. Virgil could see the cold and malevolent look in the vampire's eyes before they turned to Remy. "Virgil here has decided to turn himself over in order to stop us from hurting all of you." The vampire's grin widened. "He really is so brave," he added in mock awe. He chuckled darkly as Patton and Remy turned to Virgil in shock.

"Virgil...why....what...?" Patton trailed off, not sure what to say. He felt tears brimming in his eyes as Virgil refused to face him.

"Virgil," Remy started slowly, trying to keep his anger from seeping into his voice. "Don't do this. We have everything under control. You don't have to do this."

Virgil refused to answer. Instead, he glared at the vampire in front of him. Patton put a had on his shoulder causing Virgil to flinch. "Please, Kiddo. Don't do this," Patton pleaded.

Virgil shook Patton's hand off. "No. I can't let them hurt you," Virgil replied his jaw set.

The vampire in front of them grinned wickedly. "Come on then. Let's get going," he said reaching out to Virgil.

⚡⚡

Logan impatiently tapped his foot as he checked his watch. He looked up and watched another group disappear in a flash of smoke. He sighed. This was taking too long. Who knows how long the others could hold the vampires off. Logan couldn't help the dread build in his stomach. If they didn't hurry up something bad could happen. Logan glanced at Roman who was rounding up the last of the hostagess.

Logan jumped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around quickly with his water gun at the ready. He frowned when he found a man with chocolate brown eyes and purple colored hair.

"You're Logan, right?" The man asked.

Logan frowned. "Yes, and?"

The man looked around frantically. "Well, I heard the vampires saying something about some Virgil guy and how he made the right choice." The man frowned. "They were talking about how happy they were that they were finally able to catch him."

Logan's eyes blew wide. "What?!" He demanded as Roman and Picani ran over to join them, the last of the kids safe and sound.

"They were planning on taking Virgil all along."

Roman felt his heart race in his chest. "Where are they!?" He shouted.

The man fidgeted. "The principal's office! Come on!" He yelled as he turned and raced out if the gym with Roman, Picani, and Logan close behind.

"What's your name?" Picani asked as they skidded around a corner.

The man threw a glance back. "Uh...Thomas. Thomas Sanders," the man answered.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Emile Picani."

Logan huffed as they rushed to their destination. This was not the time for introductions. How did they know they could trust this Thomas?

"I'm a music teacher here. When the vampires came I tried to keep the children from panicking," Thomas breathed out. "I'm glad you guys came. I'm just worried for this Virgil guy. Some guy with a bowler hat was muttering about you guys and how he couldn't wait to get his hands on this Virgil." Thomas shook his head. "I don't know Virgil but if he's anything like you guys then he doesn't deserve to be taken by those monsters."

Logan saw Roman nod in agreement, his hair flying behind him. His jaw was set and an angry gleam flickered in his eyes. Soon they were at the the office. Everyone stopped and caught their breath while Roman drew his sword and kicked the door open.

Then he let out a scream.

----

(Okay so I kinda used the vervain thing from The Vampire Diaries. I don't really like that show all too much. I kinda hated it. But, I decided I wanted to kinda take a different approach to things with vampires. I know I wouldn't like it if I couldn't eat garlic so yeah. And they can see themselves in modern mirrors because no silver but silver can't really hurt them. Just some information you might need. MIGHT need. I hope you Famders enjoyed this chapter. I wish you all a wonderful day/night. Remember feedback good or bad is always appreciated. It's nice to hear what you all think. And I would like to thank the three people I tagged below. You three really gave me hope for this story. You three are one of the reasons I contined writing this story. And thank you to those who reblog and those who like it. You also help. To know someone liked what I wrote enough to like it means a lot to me even if it doesn't seem like a big deal to you. Again, I wish you all great health and may you have a marvelous day/night!)💜💜💜💜💜

Tag list: @bunny222 @nightwhisker17 @idkaurl

[sharkyhat]

“The Black Company” Recap: Gylai, the Dragon Turtle.

The party made a deal with a Dragon Turtle in this session.

Starting from where we left off last week, the party and Damakos made their way to their ship, the ‘Liberty North’, with the intent of preventing an ambush on the Triton strike team heading towards the Sahuagin fortification in the middle of Luton Lake. They did some brief shopping and Birri acquired a second Javelin of Lightning, Arwn got a pair of Winged Boots, Artemis finally got magical weapons in the form of +1 arrows and a pair of Bracers of Archery, and Clay picked up some Gloves of Missile-Snaring. After this, we established that magical items are special and rare and will be changing to random tables to avoid power-creep and selective buying.

As they boarded the ship, Damakos mentioned needing a crew for the sails and other manual labor and Birri offered 1 gold piece to volunteers. 50 silver pieces to start, 50 upon completion of the task. They got six commoners in need of work and set sail. The first two days saw no encounters and the team trained in new languages and kits for two days without interruption.

We’re using “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” for downtime activities and learning new skills and stuff. Clay is learning to use Thieves’ Tools, Temuta is learning Weaver’s Tools, and Arwn and Sheila are learning Tinkerer’s Tools.

The dawn of the third day, however, I rolled for a planned encounter. The area they were in was where the Water Plane replaced the Material Plane. There were dangers in the water. Using a table higher than the party’s level range in “Xanathar’s”, I rolled a 99 on the Aquatic Encounter Table for parties level 11-20.

A Dragon Turtle. Fitting for the dangers of another realm. It was about to attack the ship.

As it approached, Birri used her Paladin ability of “Abjure Enemy” to halt it and frighten it. With a Wisdom save of +7, I rolled a 3. 10 against Birri’s 15 DC. I’m a DM who prefers to let the dice make for a better story in moments of “Cool”. The Dragon Turtle stopped and glared at the party, unable to approach or move because of “Abjure Enemy”... for one minute. Ordering Damakos to run, the Tiefling put all his effort into keeping the ship moving as the Dragon Turtle follows. For two days, he kept the ship going as fast as he could, suffering from two levels of Exhaustion by the end of it, but Birri and Temuta ultimately devised a plan...

Try and appease it. They didn’t know it collected treasure and could be bought by treasure. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW UNTIL I READ THE MANUAL. It made the moment so much better because they unknowingly played to its nature.

Damakos halted the ship, Temuta conjured sheep to feed the Dragon Turtle as an offering, and Birri made an offer: treasure in exchange for its help against the Sahuagin. With a high Insight roll, he knew the Dragonborn was telling the truth about the treasure the Sahuagin probably had stashed in their shrines. They knew Sahuagin used their pillaged goods in shrines for Sekolah, so gold and other items may be waiting to be claimed. During the conversation, they learned the Dragon Turtle not only devoured a bulk of the Triton force, but a Sahuagin force as well - establishing its dominance in the watery region. The strike team was gone, but a bulk of the Sahuagin forces in the area were as well. They also offered to speak with the Council to give it more treasure as well as possible control of Luton Lake, complete with a toll for passing to build up its horde. It was enough to have it follow them without aggression. They planned to use the Dragon Turtle to ABSOLUTELY WRECK THE SAHUAGIN FORT IN LUTON LAKE.

At this point, I’m all-in with this idea. I’m giving my players a kick-ass moment in the story despite how I initially planned for the last few sessions of this arc to go. I decided it was time to introduce the one leading the Sahuagin on their warpath - “He-Who-Is-Called”. In the middle of Luton Lake, in the waters above the fortification they built around... something... sending off pulses, the ship with the wandering Black Company recruits stared down a large Sahuagin flanked by two Jaws of Sekolah. All three were on the backs of fiendish sharks. On the shores, hundreds of Sahuagin warriors and dozens of Sahuagin priestesses bowed. Even Barons bowed in his presence. Four arms, a large trident, adored with shark-teeth and similar armor to the Jaws of Sekolah - quite imposing. I had planned for this battle to take place in the city of Glyndon, but with the recent developments, I decided the battle was to occur here next week. The party had a back-and-forth with him; words about this war being about survival of the fittest and drowning those who didn’t know how to survive like the Sahuagin. The war being brought to the group’s homeland because this Sahuagin was told to do so by a devil-shark in the Nine Hells. There was no way they would or even could find a middle-ground in this and prepared themselves for the war that was to come in that lake.

I wanted to add tension. A race against the clock. The Sahuagin raised the trident and a pulse was sent off it, visible rippling through the air, and surrounded the head of the Dragon Turtle. Dominate Monster. The Dragon Turtle failed and was now under the control of the champion of Sekolah.

This is a modified effect of the trident Drown from “Princes of the Apocalypse”. The trident itself is slightly modified.

Held actions go off and Artemis and Clay fire at “He-Who-Is-Called”, but don’t break his concentration. Arwn uses his Spiritual Weapon and Necromancy + Death Cleric effects to cause enough damage that he could only maintain concentration on a Natural 20. He used a Legendary Resistance. This was the first true “Boss Monster” in the game. Legendary Resistances, Legendary Actions, and Lair Actions.

I cannot wait for next week’s battle. A Paladin, a Cleric, a Ranger, a Gunslinger, a Thief, a Druid, and two NPCS in Sillian, a Fighter-Ranger, and Damakos, a Storm Sorceror who is suffering from two levels of exhaustion, against Sekolah’s personally-picked champion on his turf, two ‘Jaws of Sekolah’ blackguards with fiend-shark mounts, and a motherfucking Dragon Turtle. At level 8. The battle, however, is absolutely winnable. The wildcard in play - by the party, mind you - is the Dragon Turtle.

Welcome to the Black Company.

[gwydionae]

Visions Softly Creeping

So... I had this idea for a Breath of the Wild one shot revolving around some thoughts my sister and I had as I played through the game, namely, “...ok, what is up with Zelda? Because it’s been 100 years, and she still sounds young. Is she dead and speaking to Link as a spirit or what? I mean, everyone else is a spirit, so...” However, while thoughts like this do end up here, it has taken on a mind of its own and grown to roughly five chapters with the focus now on mostly just Link. Currently chapter 2 is almost finished, but I feel chapter 1 stands on its own well enough to warrant posting it now. I’ve never written for The Legend of Zelda before, but I’ve known the series for a very, very long time, so hopefully I’ve done it justice.

Posted on fanfiction.net >here<.

Teaser: He was a knight. It was not his job to feel. The day for grieving would come, but for now this one night, one day of mourning was the only reprieve he would allow himself. Because it was his duty, and he would keep the princess waiting no longer on account of his weakness. (Spoilers for main story points including, eventually, the end of BotW.)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. All titles are lyrics borrowed from Simon and Garfunkle's "The Sound of Silence."

Chapter 1: Words Like Silent Raindrops

"Hello, Link."

His breath caught in his throat at the gentle, familiar voice, and his heart began to race as his eyes slowly swept around the room, looking for its owner. Mipha. Maybe Mipha was still...

"Because of your courage, my spirit is now free."

The excitement and optimism that he'd allowed to course through him since he had reached Zora's Domain had propelled him this far, but at the princess' words, his feet seemed as if turned to lead, and a cold pit quietly opened inside of him, sucking his hopes down into its depths. Almost as mechanically as the Divine Beast in which he now stood, he turned to face an ethereal, blue light glowing several feet away. And in the midst of it, as if manifesting from the air itself, was Mipha.

Her grateful yet sad smile would have been more than enough to confirm his dread, but still Link found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her translucent body as her feet gracefully tread upon the surface of the water, her use of the word "spirit" to describe herself echoing throughout the emptiness inside of him. It wasn't as if he could not have predicted this outcome. King Rhoam himself had told him of the other Champions' fate, and the hints had been in Mipha's guidance through the beast all along. But he had foolishly allowed her family's words to lead him to believe otherwise. After all, a Zora could live for hundreds of years; if any Champion were still alive, it would be her.

But as he should have known from the beginning, she was not. She had been dead for a hundred years while he slept and forgot everything. Had his memories stayed buried, perhaps he would not be feeling so hollow as she spoke to him of a healing power that was now useless to her. Perhaps he would be able to see her as a fallen warrior with one last task instead of feeling the stinging loneliness of the loss of a close friend. But as she gifted to him a precious piece of herself, he could feel her warmth and kindness settle inside of him, causing his heart to ache and mourn all the more.

Keeping all traces of his grief hidden, Link returned to King Dorephan to report his daughter's fate only to be met with praise, gratitude, and even elders asking to be pardoned for their earlier harsh treatment of him. The pomp flew by in a blur as the multitude of Zora now crowded into the throne room cheered, and Prince Sidon vigorously shook his hand. Link's mood was slowly lightening, the celebration infectious, until he found himself alone with the king, a beautifully crafted trident resting in his hands.

"It was cherished by Mipha. I would like you to have it."

His grip on the weapon was so tight that his hands began to shake. Quickly putting it away, he steeled his emotions once more and thanked the king for his generous gift, promising to use it to honor Mipha's memory and put an end to Calamity Ganon.

The king's smile mirrored the one his daughter wore only a short time ago, and as the Hylian bowed and turned to leave, King Dorephan's parting words, too, matched that of Mipha.

"Save her, Link. Save Princess Zelda."

The moon hung high in the night sky as Link pushed open the door to his residence in Hateno Village with a long creak. Shuffling one foot in front of the other, he slowly closed the door behind him before depositing his gear on the table until only the Lightscale Trident remained. Tenderly running his fingers along the handle, he stood in the dim light, hazy memories of the beautiful, young Zora replaying in his mind, until he at last closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and carried it to the far wall. Reaching up, he carefully mounted the trident on a weapon display, stepped back, and gave a reverent bow before trudging toward the stairs leading to the loft. His clothes were discarded heartlessly on the way to his bed, and with a tiredness he hadn't felt since first reviving, he flopped onto the soft mattress and buried his face in his pillow.

But as physically and emotionally exhausted as he was, the bliss of sleep fled from him. The events of the day circled over and over in his mind, carrying with them fearful visions of what was likely in store for him during and at the conclusion of his quest.

When he had awoken only a few weeks ago, he had no recollection of what had happened to him, the fate of the kingdom of Hyrule, or even who the mysterious voice that guided him belonged to. But still he had felt an innate sense of duty and honor in carrying out the task put upon him by King Rhoam and who he now knew to be Princess Zelda. Even if he had failed in the past, having no memory of it had assured his confidence in himself remained strong. Perhaps he had not been to blame. Perhaps after one hundred years the opponent had weakened. And so he had taken on the role of Champion with vigor and purpose, ready to do whatever need be done in order to defeat evil and help the princess.

This, however, was before his memories began to return.

Talking with Impa and realizing it might be possible to recover knowledge of at least a bit of his life prior to his hundred year sleep, he had immediately gone in search of the locations in the photos on his Sheikah Slate. It hadn't taken him long before he reached an archway on the road to Mount Lanayru that at last clawed at the cobwebs in the corners of his memory, and suddenly it was as if he were standing right there amongst the other Champions and Zelda herself. Their names were still largely a mystery, but each of their faces and mannerisms felt familiar and not at all like the strangers they currently were to him. It was an unsettling feeling, made all the moreso by the somber mood of the princess and the rise of Calamity Ganon himself in the distance.

But still the memory had affected him little. He could now picture everyone from his past that Impa had talked to him about, but aside from a vague ache in his chest at the thought of Princess Zelda's hopeless gaze and hollow voice, his feelings about his quest had not changed. No, it wasn't until he stumbled upon Zora's Domain and found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the delicately crafted statue of their princess and Champion that his old life began to haunt him. Standing there among a people who recognized him, knew him, in a place he must have visited many times before, it was as if the floodgates were finally creeping open.

Mipha.

Her name was Mipha. And she had not only been his ally, but a close friend, someone he had turned to time and time again when he was wounded in battle or just plain reckless. Various memories of their days spent together washed over him, some as clear as if she were at his side with that shy smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

And suddenly everything changed. He was not fighting to avenge a nameless fallen warrior, he was desperately hoping to save a companion. Except there had been nothing to save, not in the sense he had allowed himself to hope for, anyway. And as he lay in bed with visions of the deceased princess dancing along his closed eyelids, a few happy memories but most imagined and grotesque scenarios surrounding her demise, at last his forced mask of strength and calm started to crack.

He was a knight. It was not his job to feel. It was his job to protect the kingdom, the princess, and show no trace of hesitation as he swung his sword. Everyone was depending on him, and for that reason he must always outwardly remain strong, a pillar of confidence and control.

But in the late hours of the night in a dimly lit house that he shared with no one but his thoughts, his eyes began to sting as his breathing hitched, and it wasn't long before violent sobs wracked his body.

It was strange. While a part of him was certainly mourning the loss of Mipha, the sadness he felt went deeper than that. Perhaps he could not remember the other Champions now, but he knew, Link knew that as more of his memory returned, these same feelings and events would be repeated in a vicious cycle until he was whole, the spirits trapped for a hundred years were freed, and Ganon was destroyed. Piece by piece he would regain his old self, and as this happened, the scab hiding the wounded heart he wasn't even aware existed until a few days ago would slowly be picked away, leaving behind a gaping hole, sore and bleeding.

He did mourn for Mipha; the two of them had been close long before she had been named a Champion. But he mourned for himself as well, a warrior who could only continue moving forward as quickly as possible as Princess Zelda's hold on Ganon grew ever weaker. This while having to burden these feelings of loss fresh and anew several more times before he could truly rest and try to mend the blood-stained hole in his heart, a hole in the shape of four courageous individuals.

No, not four.

Four would be a hopeful estimate. Four would mean that there was still someone left he had a chance to save. Four would imply that somehow, inexplicably, Princess Zelda, born a Hylian with a lifespan that paled in comparison to the Zora, was still alive after all these years, her voice sounding in his head now exactly as it did in the lone memory of her he had regained so far.

No, it couldn't be only four. After his hopes of returning Mipha to her family were cruelly shattered, he would not allow himself to be so naive again. Princess Zelda's spirit may still be fighting yet, but that was all that was left of her. Just like the other Champions, her body lay dead and rotting in the place she died one hundred years ago. When all was said and done, he would be grieving the loss of not four but five companions.

The morning rays of the sun were peeking through his window before Link's cheeks grew dry, and as his body stilled and his chest stopped heaving, at last the grip of sleep pulled him into its depths. It seemed only mere moments later that he was peeling his eyes open to the sight of the room darkened once again. He had slept the entire day away, and yet his limbs still ached as if he had just crawled into bed. It was so tempting to simply continue to lie there, waiting for morning yet again before continuing his journey.

A long sigh passed his lips. No. He had wasted too much time already. The day for grieving would come, but for now this one night, one day of mourning was the only reprieve he would allow himself. With every new piece of his memory recovered, he would hold it in and squash it down, even if it meant allowing the heartache to fester for weeks on end. Because it was his duty, and he would keep the princess' spirit waiting no longer on account of his weakness.

As he crawled out of his bed and grabbed his clothes, his mind toyed with the idea of ignoring Impa's suggestion of hunting down the locations in the photos. Some memories would still likely return on their own, but perhaps now wasn't the best time to revisit the past. The idea was quickly dismissed, however. As painful as he knew it would be, he refused to free the Champions' spirits and offer up a final goodbye without as much of his former knowledge of who they were as an individual and what they meant to him as possible. Perhaps it would make his journey easier, but it would be cowardly and unfair of him to face them as a stranger.

His mind solemnly made up, he gathered his gear and replaced his knight's mask of stoic confidence. The tightness in his chest refused to be left behind, but he in turn refused to acknowledge it. He had shed all the tears he would allow. There were people waiting for him, counting on him, and he would carry out his duty.

A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who put their playthroughs of this game up online, especially RabidRetrospectGames; while I had finished the game myself, it was very useful for the times I wanted to check exact dialogue without having to replay the entire thing. Also to @veilsofmist whose fic would pop up on my dash and inspire me to get back to work on this thing every time I thought I might give up on it. XD

Thanks for reading, and as always, critics and grammar police are appreciated!

Chapter 2 on tumblr >here<.

[mealha]

The weirdest, wildest, and coolest images from CES 2020

Friendly robots are everywhere at CES. (Stan Horaczek /)

This year’s CES was massive. With roughly 4,400 companies showing off products and nearly 200,000 people there to see them, deciding what to spend time on can seem impossible. But, we’ve been on the ground since the beginning of the week and have gathered some of the most important trends, themes, and products into a handy gallery. Check it out, below.

LG's booth always puts on a fascinating show right at the entrance. (Stan Horaczek /)

The LG booth is always a spectacle with this massive, curved display at its entrance. LG’s press conference officially kicked off CES this year and the company is betting big on its ThinQ AI platform. During the presentation, the company outlined plans for the next decade in which it hopes to capitalize on the ambient technology trend, in which people seamlessly interact with digital assistants that learn and about their habits and preferences.

Lenovo's folding computer didn't break while I was looking at it. (Stan Horaczek /)

There weren’t a ton of new folding screens at CES, but Lenovo showed off its 13.3-inch folding ThinkPad X1 that works like a true folding laptop. It’s slated to ship mid-2020 for $2,500.

Despite the appearance, the keynote did not happen in space. (Stan Horaczek /)

Samsung didn’t throw its annual press conference this year. Instead, H.S. Kim, president and CEO of its consumer electronics division, gave a keynote address. Samsung has sweeping visions of connected cities in which people live in smart buildings that adapt to their behaviors. It also has some swanky appliances and a tiny AI robot.

Neon's "artificial humans" were real enough to get bored at CES. (Stan Horaczek /)

Neon made a big splash at CES promising “artificial humans.” The booth contained dozens of human-sized screens with eerily realist avatars creeping everyone out. The avatars aren’t meant to act like Google Assistant, but rather actual people with emotions and faults.

Sony made a car. It probably won't make any more, though. (Stan Horaczek /)

Sony’s CES presence has come a long way over the years. Its booth used to overflow with gadgets on tables, but now it’s mostly large-scale demos. The company even showed off a concept car. It never plans to actually put it into production, but rather it exemplifies its vision for the “everything is connected to everything else” future.

Ping pong is a popular choice for demoing computer vision tasks. These people were very good at it. (Stan Horaczek /)

This table tennis match in the Sony booth shows off some of the company’s augmented reality tech that’s in the works. Sensors track both the players and the ball. It lets the players analyze their performance for training purposes, but it also translates—in real time—the movements into the animated scene behind them.

Hyundai's flying car didn't fly just yet, but it's scheduled for the sky sooner than later. (Stan Horaczek /)

Hyundai and Uber are teaming up for a flying taxi service, a space that’s getting more crowded with every CES. Get the details in our story about the latest electric flying machines here.

Samsung is going hard on 8K TVs. (Stan Horaczek /)

TVs always take center stage at the show and this year’s big trend was, predictably, 8K. The ultra-high-res screens now take up considerable real estate in the major manufacturer’s lineups. Samsung’s offerings (shown here) go up to 98-inches. LG has more than eight 8K offerings as well. And Sony isn’t far behind.

Upscaling is king when there's no actual 8K stuff to watch. (Stan Horaczek /)

Because there’s still not really any 8K content to actually watch on those big, fancy TVs, many companies like Konka boasted their upscaling capabilities: It takes 4K content and tweaks it to try and take advantage of 8K’s extra resolution. Many processors use AI to analyze the picture on-screen and adapt the contrast and sharpening to make the picture pop.

Samsung housed its Sero TVs in this mirrored room, which makes for excellent Instagramming. (Stan Horaczek /)

TVs weren’t all about size at the show, however. Samsung showed off its 42-inch Sero TV, which connects to a smartphone and adapts to the orientation of your mobile device. So, if you want to play TikTok videos big on your TV, it will actually rotate into a portrait orientation so you can maximize screen space. It was a controversial product, but I think it’s a great idea.

The vertical TV room really was cool-looking. (Stan Horaczek /)

Here’s another photo of the vertical TVs because they looked pretty neat in the room.

Samsung's massive curved gaming monitor. (Stan Horaczek /)

Gaming monitors also took a leap at this year’s show. As powerful PC gaming rigs get more popular, gamers want features like frame rate matching and super-high refresh rates for smooth motion. Samsung was showing off its absurd 49-inch curved monitor. It did not make me better at Overwatch.

The next phase of VR will require a lot of time spent putting on suits and gloves. (Stan Horaczek /)

Virtual reality is still trying to make inroads with average customers, but this year, we saw more companies introducing haptic feedback devices to make VR more realistic. This glove from bHaptics adds resistance to your fingers, so when you pick up something in the game, it feels like it’s actually in your hand. There were also plenty of haptic suits that tap your torso when you get shot or hit in a video game.

These big hamster balls make moving in VR more realistic. (Stan Horaczek /)

This Virtuasphere is like a giant hamster ball that lets players run around in VR and move in every direction. It was impressive, but disorienting.

The actual Nreal augmented reality glasses go on your head, not on a firmly mounted pole. (Stan Horaczek /)

Nreal showed off its new light pair of augmented reality glasses, and the tech is extremely impressive. The displays fit easily into wearable frames that don’t look ridiculous. It seemed especially notable considering the recent troubles its competitor Magic Leap has been having.

Impossible's new pork replacement was the most delicious CES gadget by far. (Stan Horaczek /)

Impossible showed off its beef replacement last year at CES and this year it rolled out its delicious plant-based pork. You can read our full taste test here.

This is the only gadget at CES 2020 that cooked for me. (Stan Horaczek /)

Weber showed off its new SmokeFire grill, which automatically uses wood pellets to maintain its temperature. It has June Oven technology built-in, which allows it to give extra information like how long it expects your food to take before it’s done. It can also go up to 600 degrees for searing, something pellet grills typically struggle with. We’re looking forward to trying this out.

Samsung's prototype fridge is only for plants. (Stan Horaczek /)

Samsung showed off its prototype Bespoke Plant fridge, which grows a garden in your kitchen. You can see a closer look here.

Bridgestone built these tires for space. Space! (Stan Horaczek /)

Not everything on the show floor is meant for the market. This prototype tire from Bridgestone, for instance, was built for space rovers. It’s made of stainless steel that feels like steel wool. Inside, a flexible three-dimensional structure helps it keep its shape under load.

Drones typically hate it when you do that. (Stan Horaczek /)

Plenty of drones buzzed around the south hall of the convention center, but the PowerEgg X was one of the most impressive. It can fly in heavy rain and you can detach the camera module and attach it to your phone to shoot handheld if you want.

That screen is either fun or threatening depending how you read it. (Stan Horaczek /)

The serious robotics companies showed off some of their industrial applications. This demo pitted humans against a robot in a contest to see who could sort a small collection of pills more quickly. The robot usually won.

Samsung's Ballie robot follows you around. (Stan Horaczek /)

Samsung’s Ballie robot isn’t coming to the market, but it is an interesting demo. It uses computer vision to observe you, so if you have “water the plants” on your to-do list and it sees you watering plants, it’ll check that item off. It seemed to actually work, rather than representing just a moonshot product.

Stunt products like this toilet paper robot are big game at CES. (Stan Horaczek /)

Not all the robots were serious. This demo product from Charmin brings you toilet paper when you’re in need. Sadly, it’s not going to go on sale.

Razer's gaming-specific smartphone case has built-in cooling. (Stan Horaczek /)

Razer introduced its new gaming-specific phone case that uses a patented metal layer in order to pull heat away from the device to keep it cool. The company says it saw considerable temperature reductions, and improved CPU and battery performance.

Razer has added familiar controls to smartphone gaming. (Stan Horaczek /)

Razer’s new smartphone gamepads now work with any phone, so if you’re playing high-end games on a service like Microsoft’s X-Cloud or Google Stadia, you can have console-style controls. It felt great to play on and, with streaming services on the serious rise in 2020, expect to see more of these.

This weird translucent bowling pin represents you in the shower. (Stan Horaczek /)

Toto’s smart shower doesn’t spray you with water. Instead, it bathes you in a calm stream that’s supposed to help you stay warmer all over rather than having one hot side and one cold side of your body.

Skin treatment and cosmetics are big—and often scary-looking—game at CES this year. (Stan Horaczek /)

The cosmetics tech space still feels a bit like the Wild West. These light therapy masks from Neurocare look unnerving.

Stress relief was a big theme at CES 2020. It did not work for me. (Stan Horaczek /)

While there wasn’t as much facial recognition tech as I would have expected, there was no shortage of gadgets determined to learn about you from sensors and cameras. Many of them, like this resting pod, are designed to monitor vitals and manage stress.

This is a good place to rest your phone with a Pop Socket on it, and a bad place to rest your coffee (trust me). (Stan Horaczek /)

Pop Sockets released its own wireless charger that works without taking the little nub off the back of your phone. It’s simple, but I want one.

Self-driving car sensors are in a heated battle at the moment. (Stan Horaczek /)

As 5G rises, one of the most commonly touted uses is self-driving cars. Plenty of large companies like Intel are making sensors and radios to help vehicles monitor driving conditions and communicate with other cars and connected infrastructure.

This automated excavator is the most adorable construction equipment we've ever seen. (Stan Horaczek /)

These self-driving excavators from Doosan also rely on 5G. There’s also a front-end loader as part of its Concept X program.

This gadget smells like I want to buy a time share. (Stan Horaczek /)

With all of the cool tech, there was an undercurrent of data collection., With all of the sensors around, it enables interesting AI possibilities, but they sometimes also work with marketing. Who doesn’t want “scent marketing”?

I want this wireless speaker shower head and you can't convince me otherwise. (Stan Horaczek /)

Have you ever wished you could talk to Alexa while in the shower? This smart speaker comes from Kohler and could be the answer to your connected-bathroom dreams.

Panasonic's new VR goggles have a decidedly steampunk vibe. (Stan Horaczek /)

Panasonic’s steampunk style VR glasses promise high-res displays that fight lag and the “screen door effect."

from Popular Photography | RSS https://ift.tt/37PVNX5

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Irish Horror Writers, Robert Jordan, E. C. Comics

Indie Fiction (Jon Mollison): Given that indy comics are shouting into the gale-force winds of multi-billion dollar marketing campaigns.  It’s hard to get noticed, and every little of help that I can offer my fellow creatives is time well spent.  These reviews aren’t just the writings of a fan, they are recommendations to help you choose the best works to fill your time.

    Fiction (Matthew Hoskin): I was reminded of this poster recently, reading my Oxford World’s Classics edition of Ludovico Ariosto’s Italian Renaissance epic, Orlando Furioso. The cover depicts Ruggiero rescuing Angelica, mounted on a winged steed (bird? hippogriff? I don’t know yet), lancing a dragon from atop his mount. Angelica is nude.  This led me to start thinking about Howard and Ariosto. Now, I’m not saying that Robert E. Howard ever read Ariosto (or Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato).

  Gaming (Kraken Originals): Four more Mythical Mystics are ready to be released into the wild. Mermaid, SaberWolf, Unicorn, and Yeti will be available for sale at 6pm PDT on 10-24-19. The different ink options give each set a very unique and different look from their counterparts, and with our Naked sets the outcomes are endless! Don’t miss out on completing your collection with these 12 or 14 piece sets.

Currently there are no Naked Fairy sets available, but the other four sets are available in all ink options. 12pc Set is $19.95 and the 14pc set is $24.95, a $3 savings from buying the 30mm and 15mm alone.

  Fiction (Goodman Games): So even when Joe Goodman suggested doing some Appendix N Archaeology articles, I had not thought of the Bard of Baltimore until he suggested revisiting Poe. And in retrospect, decades from those dreaded reading assignments, I can think back, remember stories like The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Telltale Heart and realize that he was, more than Hawthorne or Stoker, the father of modern horror fiction. Before Poe, there were horror stories and novels like Varney the Vampire or Geoffrey Lewis’ The Monk, but the majority were more morality stories than anything else or ended, Scooby-Doo-style, with the villains unmasked as mere charlatans.

  Gaming (Nerd Stash): Destiny plays a major role in Call of Cthulhu as well. Your choices have a lasting impact on the world and Pierce and will make all the difference in the final moments of the game. Choose to betray a character’s trust and they may not assist you in a key point of the game. While helping them with something will earn you a reward later on that may get you to a different area or give you a new piece of lore. I’m a huge fan of pen and paper roleplaying games and Call of Cthulhu plays out exactly like one. That’s excellent seeing as it is based on the same mechanics as the RPG of the same name.

D&D (Skulls in the Stars): UK4: When a Star Falls (1984), by Graeme Morris.  We start today with another of the UK-produced modules, which tend to have a very different flavor and welcome quirkiness when compared to their US counterparts. The fact that this module is written by Graeme Morris is a good sign: Morris was an author or co-author of many excellent modules from the TSR UK office, including Beyond the Crystal Cave, which I’ve written about before!

  FIction (Cleveland.com): But it wasn’t “Star Wars” or Atari that made the biggest impression on the Cleveland author growing up. Thanks to his father, Bruening grew up reading the pulp fiction of the pre-World War II era, the noirs and adventure tales and Westerns and aviation tales that kept earlier generations rapt. “My father was born in 1929, six months before the stock market crash, his childhood was defined by the Great Depression and then war,” says Bruening. “He read all of the adventure classics, Kipling, Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, cowboy stories. He was really enamored of that whole type of entertainment.

  H. P. Lovecraft (DMR Books): Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett—better known as Lord Dunsany—passed beyond the Fields We Know on this date in 1957. H.P. Lovecraft, was, without a doubt, one of the foremost Dunsany fans to ever walk the earth. Below is the poem he wrote in tribute to that titan of fantasy literature. As far as I can ascertain, HPL’s ode to Dunsany was written in 1919. Lovecraft would precede his idol to the grave by two decades.

“To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany”

  Fiction (From Dundee’s Desk): Back in the 1992 – 94 time period, under the pen name Adam Rutledge, James Reasoner wrote a six-volume series of books for Bantam entitled THE PATRIOTS. As the over-arcing title suggests, these stories are set during the Revolutionary War years when young America rose up and won independence from England.

  Fiction (Don Herron): Far be it for me to sit on my beanbag when you guys are having all the fun with the Siege of Malta. This inscription is from The Knights of St. John (1932), a novel by Paul L. Anderson which — while I haven’t read it — undoubtedly deals with the siege. Just check out the Dedication. Anderson of course is well-known for his stories of prehistoric man which appeared in issues of Argosy during the early 1920s. These stories were obviously enjoyed by Robert E. Howard, and influenced him when he wrote tales such as “Spear and Fang.”

  Culture Wars (Brian Niemeier): Merely mentioning a Disney/Marvel property, even to negatively contrast it with a superior indie work, just gives the Devil Mouse brand social proof as the one to beat.

Refusing to feed the beast doesn’t suffice by itself, though. We also need positive messaging that promotes superior alternatives. Freeing Gen Y fanboys from the nostalgia trap has also proven more of a challenge than even I anticipated. Studying methods professionals use to combat addiction and deprogram cultists may be in order.

  Horror (Ireland XO): The people of Ireland have a reputation for their skill as storytellers with the nation producing some of the most lauded novelists, playwrights, and poets that the world has ever known. The genre of horror is no different, as three of the great early authors in the field had either immediate or very close connections with Ireland.

Horror (Digital Bibliophilia): There is a point while I was reading The Spirit by Thomas Page that I had flashbacks to the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I won’t spoil anything, but if you read the novel, or have already read the novel, it might happen to you too. I read the re-print version by Valancourt Books, which has come about via the enormous success of their coffee table reference book Paperbacks From Hell by Grady Hendrix with contributions from Will Errickson.

  Comic Books (Goodman Games): In fact, it’s also fairly easy to see how Gary Gygax, the main co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons (and an entire gaming industry) would fess up to being influenced by the art and storytelling found within the comic books of his formative years. But they are not just any old comic books that he mentions; Gary took the time to single out the creative output of one particular company among the veritable sea of comic books being printed at the time. Yes dear readers, the creeping tendrils of Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, and Vault of Horror have been christened part of the root system beneath the mighty sequoia that is Dungeons and Dragons.

Westerns (Brandywine Books): The scene above, (involving lost luggage) near the beginning of Owen Wister’s novel, The Virginian, seems to me to foreshadow a major theme of the novel. This is a panorama painted on a canvas a thousand miles wide. The landscape itself is a character in it. It’s a slow book, episodic and discursive, but that’s because everyplace is a long way from everyplace else, and travel takes time.

Robert Jordan (Every Day Should be Tuesday): Decades ago James Oliver Rigney Jr. wrote a book.  That book allowed him to break into the publishing industry.  He sold it several times.  It established his working relationship with Harriet McDougal, who would become his wife.  It led to his first published book, The Fallon’s Blood (as Reagan O’Neal).  It led to a gig writing (eventually seven) Conan pastiches for Tor, this time as Robert Jordan, the pseudonym he would make famous.  It also heavily foreshadows themes and elements from The Wheel of Time, his landmark work of epic fantasy.  It was not, however, published before his death.

Pulp Magazines (Mystery File): Have you ever received a book in the mail and immediately stopped what you were reading, stopped whatever you were doing and sat down and read the book? This is what happened when I received Queen of the Pulps. I had seen Laurie Powers work and do research on it for several years and finally here it is! She must of gotten sick and tired of me nagging her about the book and asking for progress reports.

Writing Philosophy (Rawle Nyanzi): The post — and the novel it reviews — asserts that good and evil are real, and that with great struggle, good can overcome evil. The novel in particular asserts that the Christian God is the source of this good, and that through Him, all things are possible. On the other hand, the tweet decries those who find the Joker film to be too nihilistic. Its writer asserts that the movie did well because heroism is dead. According to him, no one wants heroes anymore because society is corrupt and collapsing, with nothing to look forward to.

Sensor Sweep: Irish Horror Writers, Robert Jordan, E. C. Comics published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[todaysbiggesthits]

The Exam

Best Music Moment of 2017:

Code: dancing out the entire wedding reception playlist with my best girl on an empty concrete slab on a breezy texas night

BC: -The absolute stellar dance party at Codemin’s Wedding; most notably:

     “Carol” by The Rolling Stones

     “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode

     “Crystal” by New Order

-OK Computer’s 20th Anniversary and the listening/reflection that came with it -My four year old, Emmett, learning “Maps” on the drums pretty much on his own

JD: February: Watching the “Emotional Rescue” scene in A Bigger Splash:

March: Seeing Stop Making Sense on the big screen at my favorite theater with m’gal and a David Byrne Q&A after the screening. April: The dance party of a lifetime at Code and Arden’s wedding. November: Watching Parquet Courts play “You’ve Got Me Wondering Now” for the first time in years.

C: "Born to Run" at a good friend's, Brian Ferguson's, wedding.

Nasty: This playing at the end of Leftovers Season 3, Ep 5 - "The Most Powerful Man in the World"

Bronco: Sitting on my back porch with Brenny, sipping down some delicious whiskey drinks and listening to the new Mastodon on a surprisingly unshitty Amazon bluetooth speaker. Watching his face on the breakdown in Jaguar God was quite entertaining. Also listening to the Squalus album (the metal interpretation of Jaws) with the kids, my oldest asking what it was, and him saying he wants to watch Jaws now. He was especially fascinated by the USS Indianapolis part of the story.

Laser: This 

Chap: My 17 has been dominated by the two new ladies in my life. I made this mix for them:

and played it for them on random the morning they were born. This was the first song that came on:

and I finally broke down with emotion after the 36 hour experience while holding one of them while this song was playing:

Best Shows Seen in 2017:

BC: This first 60 seconds of this:

Nasty: Future Islands & Action Bronson

Larse: Future Islands with Maddie, Nasty, and Sam; Action Bronson at The Rave - pretty sure I got a contact high just from being in the show

C: War on Drugs

Bronco: Mastodon

Codem: lvl up - beat kitchen kitten forever - subterranean downstairs ovlov - beat kitchen pqc - the bottle girlpool - logan square auditorium moving units’ joy division cover set - the bottle PAWS - cobra lounge a. savage - the bottle pictureplane

JD: 1. William Basinski and Julianna Barwick at National Sawdust 2. No Age at Elsewhere 3. Parquet Courts and B-Boys at Elsewhere 4. Liars at Warsaw 5. Deerhunter and Eleanor Friedberger performing while Bradford Cox painted her portrait onstage at Warsaw 6. LCD Soundsystem at Brooklyn Steel 7. Yo La Tengo in Central Park 8. Andrew WK at Warsaw 9. Vince Staples at Panorama Fest 10. Wire at Baby’s All Right 11. Vagabon at Brooklyn Bazaar

Confession of 2017:

Bronco: I listened to the New Kids On The Block offering of 2017 "Thankful" (it was fucking terrible).

C: Still haven’t listened to LCD Soundsystem

Code: -knowing the backstory, the mount eerie album was probably the best album i heard this year, but it was too dang sad to listen to more than a handful of times. -i still loved that brand new song despite the lead cat being a creep. -i thought that this year was pretty rough for music, but my tune changed after looking back through my top tracks.  maybe there were just so few full albums that i liked? -i fast fwd'd through every SNL musical guest this calendar year, but i did catch the tom petty tribute from the vegas countrymin. 

BC: I don’t hate that objectively awful Chainsmokers/Coldplay song because it reminds me of this year’s BOB since Creevey played it every twenty minutes for 36 holes.

Larson: Listened to more rap this year than I think I have in past years; must be Nasty's Lincoln influence!

Nasty: I listened to more podcasts than music in 17.

Biggest Disappointment of 2017:

Laser: LCD Soundsystem

Codem: -no chromatics this year. -the two lcd shows that i saw this year.

Chap: The albums. I would not be shocked if I didn't listen to any of my top 15 all the way through after today.

Bin: DJT

JD: Mondanile

BC: Real Estate.  I think they need to invite the perv back into the band.

Bronco: Bison, Monolord, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, And So I Watch You From Afar. They all put out albums this year, and I've like their stuff in the past, but they did little to nothing for me this time around.

Most Overrated of 2017:

Codem: slowdive, but also twod and japanese breakfast

Bin: Bodak Yellow / Cardi B

Larse: LCD Soundsystem

Bronco: -Pallbearer - just don't like the guy's voice, and though they're slow as shit, there's no good riffs or anything to connect with for me. -Code Orange - hardcore band that I just don't get. One of those 'motherfucker I'm the best!' type super close to being alt-right supremecy type bands even though they're probably completely against it. They're at the top of most metal lists this year. I've given them 4-5 spins, most in reaction to the praise they're getting, but I just don't get it. -Royal Thunder - just one big case of blue balls. All of their songs seemingly build toward a climax that never happens. It's just so blech.

JD: Did the music press even treat anything as a lasting work of art and not ephemeral content to get through a week or two of famous personality driven clicks? King Krule? 

BC: Lorde, I think?  I mean, that album’s gotten a lot of love this year and I thought the lead single – “Green Light” – was hot garbage. It spawned a conspiracy theory in my mind that Taylor Swift was proactively influencing and then purposefully sabotaging the work of her close friends (see Lorde, Haim, et al).

Make it Stop 2017

Bronco: Sex monsters. Can we just take all white dudes in powerful positions, assume they've sexually assaulted at least one person, imprison them, and move on? We could take everything they have, give it all to Native American tribes, then force them to walk their own trail of tears to live out their lives in the desserts of New Mexico, and force them to build the wall, but it would just be a wall around their sad sex monster reservation.

Also, Taylor Swift.

Nasty: I didn't have the luxury of expending any real hate on music this year... which I'm just now recognizing as a bad thing.

JD: -Unceasing sadness and anxiety about the present and future. -Jack Antonoff

BC: Life on this planet.

Code: any rap station that i hear in an uber. that cardi b song was playing every time i caught a cab at 5:30 a.m. to play golf.

Larson: U2

Biggest TBH Regret of 2017:

BC: Not seeing NIN at RiotFest

Larson: Skipping the Car Seat Headrest show at Summerfest because I could tell Maddie didn't want to leave Jonas' party (party was fun, so not a real loss, just wish I would have seen the show).

Nasty: Not even giving new artists a chance. I'll listen to an average album from The National 10x's before I give someone new a shot.

Codebreaker: not having an opportunity to karaoke badu's tyrone

JD: -Had the worst fever of my life during LCD and could only manage standing in the back shivering. -Forgetting to go see Dinner at Baby’s All Right. -Not enough time with Bjork, Miguel, and Blanck Mass. 

Bronco: Fucked up the family calendar maintenance and ended up not being able to see the Toadies and Local H. I was pissed at my wife, but it wasn't the end of the world. I haven't listened to either in forever, and the listen I gave to the Toadies latest offering didn't knock my socks off. It was really just for nostalgic purposes. Still it sucked to have to miss it despite my best efforts to bring it to her attention multiple times.

Detective Murtaugh of 2017:

NACK: I had two separate opportunities to see LCD, and just didn't feel like putting in the effort. Was going to put this as a regret, but I don't regret it.

Code: i skipped 7 shows that i had tickets for and left 6 shows early. two shows i left early due to brightness of lights.  mmmmmnhh

JD: Couldn’t hear for 18 hours after No Age. Needed two Tylenol for the headache I gave myself during “You’ve Got Me Wondering Now” at PQ Quartz.

BC: Having no idea who either the SNL host or the musical guest was for three straight weeks.  Tiffany Haddish? Saoirse Ronan? SZA? I’m too old for this shit…

Nasty: Carson, Maddie, Sam and I went to watch the IU game this weekend with one of Carson's co-workers (an IU grad) who is 23.... I got rolling on a rant about how important it is to enjoy your 20s because after the impending onslaught of weddings and babies life basically isn't any fun anymore. Suspect it was a little too impassioned by the end.

Bronco: I was enrolled in a three month coding bootcamp to learn Web Development. Aside from the two older ladies (50+) and the weird Brazilian idiot (45+), I was the oldest person in the room by probably an average of 13 years. They are all for the most part life-pivoting in to the dev world and they all have all the time in the world to learn new shit, do whatever they want, whenever they want...goddamnit I miss that. So maybe this is my "too married and fathered for this shit" section of the exam.

C: Wife’s Pregnancy

Laser: Every time I wake up with a fucking hangover and tell myself that I’m not gonna drink like that again only to get back on the saddle the next available opportunity.

Resolution for 2017 Update:

BC: Put a goddamn band together. How it went: 

C: Check out some jazz/blues in Chicago. How it went: FAILED

Larson:  Focus on the shit I really care about instead of trying to listen to everything posted on the thread…I’m just going to have to be honest with myself and realize I ain’t got time for all this media! How it went: Terrible; found myself listening to Timeless Pop Rock hits playlist more than anything else.

Chap: Check out more of the recommendations on the TBH thread. Try to organize get-togethers around TWO shows. How it went: Actually not bad. I had a few solid period during nap times when I didn't feel like working. I think I was able to listen to every album I wanted to at least once.

Code: make concerted effort to listen to music that i liked in previous years in addition to music from the current year. How it went: i nailed my resolution, as i devoted four full months to the grateful dead and it was the best musical trimester of the year for me. it was really interesting to watch all of the new music pile up and never once feeling compelled to listen to something else. god damn did the '77 version of the band have it all figured out. i could listen to any uptown mississippi halfstep toodeloo from that year at any time.

Bronco: Learn the guitar. I’ve been fooling around with Rocksmith (guitar hero with real guitar) and I want to push myself to execute the more complex chords, not just stick to the powerchord simple songs like Blitzkrieg Bop, and start learning how to build and execute a solo. I also want to distill my own whiskey, build a garden shed from scratch, and learn to code. How it went: I haven't quite mastered the guitar, but I can play a few songs fairly well. I did not start working on my own whiskey or build a garden shed from scratch...yet. But I did learn to code. I am now at conversational levels of fluency with Javascript and at "donde es el bano" levels with Ruby and Python.

Nasty: See a show in NY with JD. How it went: Not great, Bob! I barely made it down the street to see Action Bronson with Laser 

JD: Seeing more shows with you guys is an evergreen resolution. How it went: To quote BC,

Resolution for 2018:

BC: No more resolutions

C: Catch some jazz in Chicago

Laser: get my list in on time!

Chap: While I didn't have the occasion to catch shows this year, I anticipate doing so in '18 due to some changes afoot.

Codem: make more playlists for my wife

Bronco: Get in shape. I want to stick to a schedule of running all year round. I ran a 10K back in June, then needed to recover for a bit, been recovering ever since...Fat Dad needs to keep running all year round without excuse, especially given that we go skiing between Xmas and New Year's and I'm gonna be a floppy legged mess. During those runs, I'll try to listen to new material each time.

Bin: I'm just going to keep saying "get to NY for a show with JD" until I make it happen. 

JD: See you gents more often with or without a show attached. 

Most Anticipated of 2018:

C: MBV

JD: MBV, No Age, Panda Bear, something surprising

Code: chromatics (i think it's really coming this year), mbv, no age, DOM, CCFX full album

Bronco: Tool. Fourth year's the charm...fuck those guys. It better suck me off when it finally does come out. Also a new Sleep album and a new High on Fire album...still waitin' on those too.

BC: Simple Minds, Vampire Weekend, Kanye

Nasty: Kanye, ASAP Rocky, Rhye, Chromeo, Vampire Weekend

Chap: After a quick glance at the list... Vampire Weekend, Kanye, Chromatics

Larse: Honestly don't even know what is on the horizon, just hope I can listen to it with this net neutrality bullshit!

[flauntpage]

MacDonald vs. Daley: In the Court of the Crimson King

Rory MacDonald returned with a vengeance at Bellator 179 on Friday night. In front of a British crowd, MacDonald smothered English banger, Paul Daley before taking his back and securing a choke in the first half of the second round. Any fears of MacDonald being gun-shy were quickly dispelled as he charged out to counter a Daley jab with a corking right hand before snatching up a single leg takedown and finishing it with ease.

Through the first round, MacDonald seemed more than comfortable inside Daley's guard. MacDonald would tripod on his feet and drive his head underneath Daley's to create discomfort, and begin creeping his hands up to look for that vintage Georges St-Pierre can opener position with the double collar tie in the guard. While handfighting with Daley for this position, MacDonald showed nice upward elbows from inside the guard, these are seldom seen in MMA and clearly a surprise to Daley.

This bout made an interesting comparison with Frankie Edgar's destruction of Yair Rodriguez the previous weekend. Rodriguez has an aggressive and dangerous guard, so Edgar pushed him to the fence and smushed his head into it—allowing Edgar to stand and stack Rodriguez's hips, stifling his guard attacks.

When MacDonald tripoded on Daley and Daley began to shoulder walk back towards the fence, MacDonald immediately pivoted all the way around and turned Daley to face the centre of the cage. This is likely because MacDonald was not threatened by Daley's guard, but Daley is decent at using the fence to get up off the mat.

The entire first round consisted of Daley being forced to work from the bottom. Every time Daley's guard opened, MacDonald would sneak a knee through and pass. The strikes weren't frequent but the pressure was a constant. Daley was forced to bump, shrimp, and recover while MacDonald looked completely at ease. Even when Daley got underhooks from half guard and whipped up onto his side, all he did was achieve closed guard again. These exertions quickly took their toll on the knockout artist.

As the second round started, MacDonald faded away from a desperate flying knee and countered with another right hand. MacDonald threw in a high kick and as soon as Daley chucked leather back, MacDonald was in on the hips again. A takedown followed and an effortless pass straight to side control this time.

MacDonald moved to technical mount and the tap came easily from a rear naked choke.

Fight fans are quick to declare a fighter 'done', and it seems like that was the case with Rory MacDonald. Paul Daley is not a top five welterweight but he is far from a slouch. The sublime showing that MacDonald put on sets him up for a meeting with the winner of Douglas Lima versus Lorenz Larkin and it is likely that he'll head into either of those matches as the favourite. Yes, he fell short against the ferocious Robbie Lawler and was bamboozled by the distance striking of Stephen Thompson, but this is the same man who outlasted and outclassed Demian Maia, and who made Tyron Woodley's usual game look completely ineffective in another flawless showing. MacDonald is the real deal, signing at Bellator in the prime of his career, and that alone has made the Bellator / UFC competition far more compelling.

Swarm-as-Swarm-Can

Linton Vassell might be the most underappreciated light heavyweight in the world. That is not to say he's going to challenge Jon Jones anytime soon, but there is a great chance he is the best light heavyweight that most fight fans have never heard of. At Bellator 179 Vassell added a third victory to his recent streak and looked good doing it against former Bellator light heavyweight champion, Liam McGeary and he showed some interesting looks from the top while doing it.

Vassell has been working with Neil Melanson for some time, and Melanson was in Vassell's corner for this fight. Melanson is one of the most interesting coaches in the game today, Melanson's book, Youtube videos, and instructional DVDs are well worth the time and money, providing a unique catch wrestling-esque philosophy on top and bottom positions. Where Vassell has previously been a very formulaic grappler—takedown, mount, back and rear naked choke if they give it—this fight showed off some more interesting techniques from top position. Never posturing up in McGeary's guard, Vassell spent most of his 'riding time' in the first round doing little, but each time McGeary opened his guard to make something happen Vassell would immediately advance to the half guard.

McGeary was constantly trying to get his forearms in front of Vassell's head, which was low through most of the fight, and get the shoulder pressure off so that he could attempt an attack or improve his position. Throughout the bout Vassell made good use of this. From half guard, Vassell reach around McGeary's head with the cross facing hand, locked up his grips on the far arm and then freed McGeary's head in order to attack an Americana shoulder lock. This threatened McGeary to the point where he had to open his guard and turn to his side, freeing Vassell to pass to mount.

In a very unusual occurrence, the Americana was a consistent threat in this fight. You just don't see Americanas applied at the highest levels with any kind of consistency—Jon Jones versus Vitor Belfort comes to mind, and then almost nothing else—so it was a treat watching Vassell use his shoulder pressure to get the same reaction out of McGeary and go for it a few times throughout this bout.

This catching McGeary's wrist when Vassell's arm was behind McGeary's head played off well with the stockade that Vassell attacked a couple of times in the fight. The commentators seemed confused about Vassell abandoning mount shortly after acquiring it, but review of the footage shows Vassell sliding his right arm behind McGeary's head and into his far armpit. Dismounting and walking around can yield a powerful old school neck crank from here. McGeary was quick enough to free his head, however.

But Vassell kept looking for it.

For an example of an attempt that came closer, we turn to catch wrestling legend, Minoru Suzuki. We covered his attacks in The Brutal Catch Wrestling of Minoru Suzuki and The Continued Catch Wrestling Adventures of Minoru Suzuki . Here his opponent is put under some decent strain before their head squirms free.

Vassell continued to attempt to catch the armpit (for the stockade) or the wrist (for the Americana) from under McGeary's head, and ultimately it was squirming to avoid these that left McGeary's elbow wide open for Vassell to slide through and into an arm triangle attempt. Another unusual look came from Vassell as he very deliberately pushed his own right leg into half guard. Neil Melanson is a believer in locking the opponent's legs in place when attempting arm triangles. Choosing to stay in the guard locks the opponent in place and prevents him from attempting a running escape or bringing his own leg up to his arm in order to grab it and create space between his shoulder and neck.

The rest of the fights on Bellator 179 were nothing to write home about, but the main and co-main were easily worth the time taken to tune in.

MacDonald vs. Daley: In the Court of the Crimson King published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[followfelix-blog1]

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I take a bit of supplies firearm and wads of ammunition, build snapping up creating resources, stockpile meals, take in, and treatment, along with have the capacity to use some jeans. Combining filtration tablets and expired dairy offers you me which has a drinkable refreshment. Without results, undoubtedly, now a lot of army zeds are available lurching and creeping regarding me. that many people arrange to make an attempt really mean: ow. I believe it’s now in certain situations. I quite often ascertain lv cheats such as these appear like you're scouring the web at code chasing. |I viewed some facets turn up truly kid-fashioned - my most average products are any juice, orange liquid, and dairy. even so i tried it anyways (basically because hello there free of charge lv trainer) in fact it is genuinely incredibly enchanting. Do not ever eliminate lighthouse customers, or let me know obama. I’d be skeptical on this . all if it was not to get that trailers listed below, which brings out the enemies are lovely like enjoy-doh and you could commute a fireplace pickup truck. Does which means that it’s very good? No. Smaller. I am not keen on the bushes. Simply just, that’s traditional for these lv cheats now and i also assume this type of you should rid of it. Take into account this is sometimes a lv trainer made by a 16 years of age. I would recommend to test up against critique. |Unturned Fly Hack, even so, has a superior pub so low that could not not free of charge-to-enjoy, yet still it leaves stellar precious illustrations like way to exile within a particles on steam’s participant maps. could be the statement, even so that doesn’t really mean they've a wristwatch for what is very good. The feel of snapping cuffs sounded from right behind me as my wrists were limited, and i was delivered nude (i’d up to this point to locate dress wear) in the roads to many tour bus, to that individuals was incorporated and told to keep nonetheless. I assume this is basically just amusing to see a different person staying blizzard and making it in search engine marketing. Around the mobile phone, my captor was adamant utilized to do workout routines for him, leaning most appropriate and quit in rapid succession mainly because they targeted his vast firearm at me. It was at roughly this point encompassing which i noticed a remarkable thought. And it seems that that’s all it entails, coupled with a military services of schoolchildren, to rule steam. In case you meet up with associates and also a clan you may want these people to visit Unturned Fly Hack basically because no matter what, people lil bastards cant you should carry wonderful from a whole clan. Fed up of the sport? Look at the work shop when there's a metric fuckton of mods that may put blog website. |As a result the There are many fields to grasp more info on: you will discover military services bases, international airports, courses, campgrounds as well as other towns. In summary, the sport is worthy plenty to pay time mastering it. It includes some items of corrosion form creating aspects, as well as illustrations are perfect when wear the biggest level of describe. It have pluses and minuses specialists of about three. He wanted if he could enjoy garry's mod on my compact accounts and i help him to. The image suck and may seem like they'd not much time and effort installed them. Should you spawn within the scene, you've limited chance for conquering the first zombies you come upon. |In conjunction with zombies and individuals, the climate present their particular danger. Progressing up method - eradicating zombies awards know-how will improve success methods. I set about with individual-participant to obtain a experience of our planet i had been attending input. The zombies don't react prior to when you help make your existence known. With every zombie obliterate i received know-how. creative art that allows you to step, perform, and jump more rapidly, more lengthy, and more. Logs are just capable of being currently employed which will make boards so its possibly not an undesirable picture to easily create them straightaway to discharge plastic bag room space. Pvp web servers are unforgiving, with individuals photographing unarmed novices abruptly. Each weapon provides a unique statistics as an example , recoil, injury, and powerful scale along with parts. |As you are roaming encompassing, i viewed an alien scouring the web device on the floor. required to pay for the 5 cash doesn't match a pay out-to-triumph in process, due to the fact health advantages are isolated.