#i find some good art here and there. but it does not outnumber the amount of disgusting stuff i've come across

[gayford]

never go on gf twit.ter its not worth it!!

[adamwatchesmovies]

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)

“How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?”

You’re right, John McClane, Die Hard 2 is improbable. When the results are this entertaining, who are we to complain? It’s got the hero we love back in full form, big action set pieces that’ll knock your socks off and a worthy adversary of a villain. It's a sequel that satisfies.

Two years after the incident at the Nakatomi Plaza, LA police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) is waiting for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) to arrive at the airport. As her flight approaches, former U.S. Special Forces Colonel William Stuart (William Sadler) and his men hack into the airport’s traffic control system, take over all communication and hold the flights above hostage. They demand General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), recently arrested and on his way to the United States, be delivered to them - or else.

I often see Die Hard listed as “the best Christmas movie”, which I'm almost certain is a gag answer. It’s not really about the spirit of the holidays; it’s merely set during the season. The same applies to this underrated sequel. McClane is back. This time, he feels less vulnerable than he did before but that’s ok. He’s once again out of his element and forced to use his wits to outgun and outmaneuver opponents who outnumber him about 12-to-1. Like before, his wife is being incidentally held hostage. Throughout the film, you’re always worried the villains will find out and that she’ll be used against our hero. You believe Stuart would sink that low. He’s as ruthless as he is good at the whole bad guy thing. The stakes feel even higher than they did last time. We’re not talking about a couple dozen hostages. It’s entire planes full of innocents who don’t even know they’re in danger.

The situation's intensity is cranked way up because of the villains’ plan. They’re not in the airport itself, but they have to be close. While navigating the corridors of red tape put up by the bewildered and panicked airport security, McClane has a mystery to solve. A mystery with a time limit. For now, the planes are circling above but their fuel won't last forever. The stakes and time limit keep the plot moving from one big action scene to the next. The stunts and special effects dwarf everything we saw previously. That’s the right way to go about it. If you can’t be as smart and tense as Die Hard, double-down on the spectacle. It adds up to the same results.

There’s just the right amount of one-liners and jokes to ease the tension before director Renny Harlin puts you through the wringer again. The side characters - played by Dennis Franz, John Amos, Art Evans - are memorable. Their little arcs add a lot of life to this twisty thriller. Just when you think McClane’s gotten a break, some new obstacle pops up. When he does manage to overcome one, the big set pieces will have you pumping your fists and cheering. You just hate those baddies so much that seeing them get riddled with holes, blown up or otherwise taken down makes it feel like a proper Christmas wish come true.

While you might raise an eyebrow at Die Hard 2 initially, in no time at all, it’ll have you nervously stuffing your face with popcorn, wondering how our hero will make it out of this dire situation alive. Here's an idea. In the same way that you should occasionally swap out Home Alone from your holiday roster with Home Alone 2 to keep things fresh, why not do the same with Die Hard and Die Hard 2? (On Blu-ray, February 7, 2020)

[jackdawyt]

Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of my favourite games of all time. I love everything about this game, from the compelling hero’s journey, to the roster of lovable characters, to making the Inquisitor my very own unique protagonist. Few games compare to the experiences and tremendous moments that Inquisition provides, not to mention the Trespasser DLC which revealed the true intention of the game’s villain, and paved the story forward for future titles.  

I think it’s rather telling how good this game is, considering we’re still talking about it nearly 6 years later after launch, discovering new theories and mysterious hidden deep within the lore. Heck, if Dragon Age: Inquisition was a mediocre experience, I don’t think I’d have a YouTube channel today with thousands of recurring views weekly talking about the game, and where the story is going to go since the events of Inquisition.  

However, there is something critical that I feel is necessary to discuss regarding Dragon Age Inquisition’s original marketing demos and the expectations they set for the finished game.  

Following up to the launch of Dragon Age: Inquisition, I used to obsessively re-watch the first original gameplay demo shown at Pax Prime 2013. At the time the game was in its pre-alpha build, however, there were many impressive features and dynamics showing just a glimpse of what we’d come to expect once we got our hands on the game.  

In retrospect, these promises were scrapped before the finished project released.

This post is not meant to be a negative outlook, poking holes at BioWare’s effort, but an investigation and critique into BioWare’s game design, more specifically, the cuts the developers made tackling Inquisition’s complicated release, and how they’ve learned since.  

For the uninitiated, Dragon Age: Inquisition released in November, 2014, a month after the next generation of consoles launched. As the game was jammed in-between two gaming generations, it was designed to ship on both the previous generation of consoles (Xbox 360/PS3) and the current generation (XB1/PS4).

In order for the game to predominantly run on the lower spec consoles, many gameplay cuts, downgrades and setbacks were made to the final project.  

I’m not talking about conceptual ideas in pre-production that were drafted for the game, like The Architect making a cameo appearance in a “Here Lies The Abyss” alternative twist, or the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke and The Inquisitor meeting up in a potential drafted prologue. Of course, there were plenty of ideas, concepts and story threads that were canned and reworked because the developers had better, and frankly more relevant plans for the game.

I’m talking about actual features and mechanics that were incorporated and designed into the vertical slice demo that was shown off to the fans at Pax Prime 2013, and then were removed later on just before launch.

I would like to point out that the gameplay I’m going to show was alpha footage, and the developers made sure we all understood that it could easily change, nobody lied to us. If anything, BioWare were so eager to show off the next Dragon Age game, that perhaps this was the biggest detriment to the project.

I’ll have the full Pax gameplay demo linked for those who want to watch it fully. But without further ado, I’m going to be revealing the Dragon Age: Inquisition we almost got.  

Cut Content:  

The demo starts with a significant cut, originally Dragon Age: Inquisition would’ve featured stunning party member cutscenes when entering new areas for the first time.  We see Varric, Cassandra and Vivienne discussing how prepared they are since the Inquisition formed. Varric banters that he’s outnumbered by the ladies once again.  

We can assume that these dynamic banter cutscenes based on your party members were replaced with Scout Harding’s area report.  

The models and textures for the characters and armours look very different too. Cassandra has a more angled facial structure, like her original concept art. And, the Inquisitor’s armour and textures don’t even exist in the final game, I remember attempting to recreate this look, a thousand times over, however, no fabrics in the game have this orange texture.

Helmets also appear in conversations, which is a huge pet peeve of mine, I’m still upset to this day that we can’t see helmets in conversations and there’s no mod to fix it. However, they added this feature in Mass Effect: Andromeda, so maybe we’ll see it in the future.  

In general, this demo showed that there was going to be a lot more cutscenes when entering new areas, in party banter, and for minor conversations with smaller characters.  

Upon inspecting the gameplay, we can see the camera’s placement was significantly adjusted. The demo had a third-person feel, whereas the game ended up with a pulled back camera, probably to suite the tactical camera for combat. Fortunately, there are mods that actually fix this issue.  

The UI has evolved since the demo, there used to be a Skyrim-esqe navigation compass that was replaced with a radar. And the party member icons are different, but that’s just nit-picking.  

The combat is more or less the same, however, it does seem more reactive and heftier in the demo. Most likely because the camera is more zoomed into the action. There are some tweaks though, the enemies react more to the Inquisitor’s attacks, the stumble, flail and even run away, as opposed to just taking the damage and then attacking you back.  

However, minor these cuts may seem to you; they did change the game a fair amount adding more immersion to the overall experience.  

Even so, the most obvious and upsetting cut when watching this demo regards the entirety of Crestwood, the area has been dramatically reduced in the final game.  

In this demo, the Inquisitor is given a conflict. One of the Inquisition’s soldiers asks the player how does the Inquisitor want to handle their armies' movements throughout the area.  

The Inquisitor could send the Inquisition army to save the town of Crestwood.  

They could lead the soldiers to tend to the nearby wounded.

Or they could bolster every solider to the Keep, leaving both the wounded and the town of Crestwood.  

Each choice had a consequence, and both Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah spoke on having multiple ways to approach the situation. For instance, in the demo’s scenario the Inquisitor decides to leave the town while it’s under siege, instead, they find a secret entrance towards the Keep. Using Antivan Fire, they burn the invaders’ boats which would prevent them from escaping after their attack. The Inquisition take the Keep, and head back to the ransacked town filled with newly fresh corpses. A dynamic cutscene of Varric mourning the dead plays out, adding emotional impact and weight to the decision the Inquisitor just made.  

And this was just a side questline...

The demo ends with the developers reiterated the tactical and dynamic approaches when showing the Inquisition taking over the Keep at The Western Approach.  

According to Mark Darrah, you could weaken enemy defences by doing things like drawing out the troops or poisoning their wells.  

Then, once you claimed the keep for yourself, you’d get a quest called ‘This Water Tastes Funny’, in which your Keep's well was poisoned and you’d have to go find fresh water.

The Keep’s themselves were originally designed to have a lot more influence and reactivity throughout the world. Once captured, the Inquisitor could choose a dynamic choice for the Keep’s overall goal, if you had enough Inquisition agents. 

The Keep could be specialised based on the Inquisition’s advisors. You could choose to run your Keep as a Military outpost, boosting fortifications. It could be a Keep of espionage and secrets, for information gathering, or you could make it a Keep of connections and merchants for diplomatic purposes. Each different speciality had a different advantage and aesthetic to suit its purpose.  

Adding more choices and roleplaying values for making the Inquisition your own army, having a say in what aspects it should grow in.  

That sums up the majority of the cuts made since this demo. I will say it’s unfortunate seeing these unfinished features that shaped the game in a completely different direction, that inevitably couldn’t make it into the finished project.  

But I think it’s wrong to pin the blame of this cut content on anyone because the developers were tackling a console generation shift, and they wanted everyone to have the opportunity to play the game without having to get a new console. Can you really blame them for that?  

Perhaps many of these features may be designed into a future title since the developers wanted them so much in Inquisition? And speaking of the future title, at least the next Dragon Age game won’t be coming out in between a console generation, it is being designed strictly for next-gen, so there shouldn't be any console setbacks and limitations.  

Even still, when Dragon Age 4 does eventually get a gameplay reveal, don’t set your expectations in stone based on that reveal. The finished project will look very different. These days gameplay previews aren’t always accurate, and that’s just a dilemma of the entire games industry, not just EA and BioWare.  

Wrapping up on a positive note, BioWare have learned from this experience, and they’re approaching Dragon Age 4 with a “show, don’t tell” strategy. They will be proceeding with caution when marketing and revealing the next Dragon Age game, and that may play a part in why we haven't and won't see anything official for a while.  

I don’t think I could end on a better note then the Narrative Director, John Epler’s message about Inquisition’s development. John said: “A good 90% of 'bad' decisions are, in fact, the best decision at the time. Game dev is all about making the best decision you can at the time, with the resources you have. A lot of stuff you thought was weird or awkward came down to a gut call of 'this is the best I can make this and I trust it's good enough'. Sometimes we're right, sometimes not.”

BioWare decided to make these cuts to Inquisition because they realised it was the right thing to do for the entire project, perhaps they felt they couldn’t deliver these features to their full capacity, or they wanted a change of direction. They believe these decisions were made for the greater good of the game, and I commend them for that.  

Dragon Age Inquisition is an incredible RPG with tons of personality, that not many games can even mimic. Although the game had some minor setbacks with the fair amount of content that was cut, the game is just as amazing without those initial features.  

Like I said, perhaps we’ll see these mechanics in the next game, if not, then at least it has been a learning experience for BioWare, that they can utilise for the development of Dragon Age 4.  

In any regard, let me know your thoughts down below on this gameplay demo relating to the finished game, and don’t forget to check out my latest news update!

[dr3am-t3am]

quick comment i wanted to make on the fan art issue, that i would’ve put on twitter if it weren't for its stupid character limit

i really really do understand both sides. in all honesty, im not mad at all, bc i think the issue is more with twitter itself than either dream or the artists, but tensions got rlly high last night and i feel for everyone that was affected. i do wanna say tho, the twitter algorithm really puts artists at a h u g e disadvantage. 

to everyone and anyone affected, pls feel free to talk to me? and if you have fan art, feel free to message me w/ it. im v far from anything resembling a big account both here and on twitter, but i will definitely boost ur art if u send it ! we really can't expect ccs to see or boost our art, just from the crappiness of social media algorithms alone, but when artists work together to help each other and such we can still make sure that all of our art is appreciated and loved by the community. love y'all !! <3 <3 <3

more hypothetical discussion and thoughts under the cut

again, i am a fanartist. i am also a fanfic writer, and i started on tumblr, so i know that bc of my experiences, im gonna be a lot less? affected? i guess by limited interactions from ccs. on tumblr, there’s no way you're gonna get noticed by ccs (which is a perk, sometimes) and when you’re a fanfic writer you really dont even ask for positive attention you really just want people to stop giving you negative attention haha

that being said, i understand people’s frustration with dream bc he hasn’t been interacting as much with art. i maintain that this frustration should be more directed to the twitter algorithm, tho. 

(who’s ready for some hypothetical math?)

let’s say that an artist takes 1 hour to make one piece of art. this is honestly, really really dang fast, many detailed full pieces of art take 2-3 hours at least, and many others will take 8, 10, or even more. but we’re gonna give the artist the benefit of the doubt anyways and say that they take 1 hour. 

Now how about stan accounts? Let’s say that they make 5 posts an hour. This is honestly, probably a low ball! Each post takes a few seconds to make, a lot of the time, and plenty of accounts are much more active than posting every 12 minutes. But we’re gonna, again, make this situation the best possible situation for the artist, and let’s say that the stan account only posts 5 times an hour. Even with this situation, for each post that the artist makes, assuming that they @ dream every time, he’s going to see 5 posts by a stan account.

Artists also tend to be very outnumbered on twitter, so let’s say for every artist, there are 10 stan accounts. Let’s assume that they also make 5 posts an hour. So for each artist that shows up in dream’s notifications, he’s going to see 50 posts by stan accounts.

But artists get fatigued! We’re going to go with a high estimate again with 4 fully finished pieces a day. (this is insane! keep in mind, even if we’re lowballing the time put in, this is still 4 hours a day of art. for most artists, their fully finished pieces take 2, 3, 4 hours. four pieces a day would put them at 8-16 hours of work!!). on the other hand, stan account posts take a lot less time to make, and are much less likely to make them fatigued. Therefore, we can assume that the stan accounts, posting 5 times an hour, can stay active for 8 hours a day. 

What does this put us at? For every post that an artist makes with a fully finished piece of art, dream is seeing 100 notifications from stan accounts. This doesn’t even include how dream is more likely to respond to those who interact with his tweets, which is nigh impossible for artists because they cannot make a piece of art to reply to his posts in the ~5 minutes that he will look at the replies to the post he posts. I also made this situation the best possible situation for the artist. In reality, I can only make about one fully finished piece a day, and more often will go two or three days without posting. There are also far more stan accounts than artists, stan accounts are often active for longer than 8 hours and post more than once every 12 minutes. The real ratio might be more like 1 in 200, 300, 400. Just because of the algorithm, artists are pretty dang screwed.

Dream has been making efforts to help with this, such as through the dreamfanart tag! this manages to filter out all of the stan accounts, and when fan artists use it he’s going to be much more likely to see the art. even so, the amount of artists he will actually interact with is very low. it’s just the way the website works, when his notifications are definitely constantly flooded, when artists are so easily drowned out by the literal army of stan accounts on twitter. in the end, it’s really up to artists to hype each other up and support each other. My best advice for if you want more appreciation and interaction are:

1. use the dreamfanart tag! again, this manages to filter out most of the stan account activity, and will help other people to find your art if you’re a relatively new artist

2. self advertise! retweet your own art, reply with your art under people’s posts hyping up artists, dont be afraid to put yourself out there. if you want your voice to be heard in the sound of all these other accounts, you have to be loud!

3. interact with other artists! by helping and hyping up other artists, theyre more likely to do so with you. artists are a pretty small population of dttwt, and we have to support each other to get anywhere. retweet, like, reply to people’s art. follow dttwt artists and support them! 

4. love your art for what you’ve already done. this is the hardest part, especially when you put hours into a piece and see it get like, less than 10 likes. i have been there, and it sucks. but your art is Good. you put your time, effort, and heart into that, and regardless of how other people respond, you did good and im proud of you. <3

a last note: i have to admit, i wasn't the most comfortable with all of the dttwt artists bullying and venting their frustrations at dream, specifically, for “ignoring” fan artists. could he have interacted more? definitely. but i dont think he was by any means trying to “ignore” fan artists. his notifications are swamped, his tl is swamped. twitter works in a way where a day or two after you make a piece of art, it’s pretty much buried and lost forever. last night he was just trying to do a good thing by shouting out some small accounts in the community. fan artists, i am a part of you, and i feel your pain and frustration, but please don’t speak out of a place of anger. it’s far too easy to say something, publicly, that you’ll regret. i do not condone any of the hate sent anywhere, especially to fan artists last night, but let’s all remember to be kind and build each other up, ok? We’re all in this together, ccs, stan accounts, fan artists. we’re all doing this because we love the dteam and the content they make. don’t lose sight of why we’re here in the first place <3 

again, love you guys so much. take care of yourselves! im proud of all of you, fan artists, fanfic writers, any and all creators, as well as those of you who are just here to express your love for the dteam. be kind and support one another, ok? <3 

[defiant-firefly]

October Challenge Day 18

Yeah this is yesterdays. I’m too tired to do today’s since I’m chuggin on like... 3 hours sleep tops. Anyway...

This fic was from the Whumptober prompt ‘Phobias’ and ‘Skull’ from the Witchtober prompt list. It fits both but it’s not whumpy and it’s not art so I won’t tag either of them.

But yeah, it’s set within the P5R Labby AU I have where Labrys is the new protag of P5R and a bunch of other AUs are mixed in for fun. At this point, they’re at Sae’s Palace about to go into the maze challenge.

Summary: Akechi is amused to find that two of the Phantom Thief members aren’t as fearless as they first appeared.

Fic under cut!

“Are we sure this is the only way?” Makoto asked as she approached Labrys’ side. She hummed in response as they both stared down the door in front of them.

“I didn’t see another. Did you…?” She trailed a bit and Makoto could tell she was hoping they had.

“I wish…” She crossed her arms and tried to see their leaders eyes. Despite the situation, they were pretty clear, but then of course they were. After everything that’d happened recently, she’d be worried if they weren’t.

But that didn’t make this next challenge any easier, and she was sure the next one would be even worse than this one if she’d read the signs correctly. This one would be the one that proved difficult for both of them though.

Ahead stood the maze game. Their objective was to come out the other side of it in one piece. The catch?

It was pitch black inside.

Neither of them were looking forward to this. Makoto hadn’t been able to keep still since they decided to do this one now and the other later - depending how they feel - and it was obvious with the amount of tapping Labrys had been doing that she was in the same boat. They both can’t sleep without a nightlight for goodness sake! It was almost like Sae had planned for this!

“Well it ain’t gonna get done just standin’ here, right?” Labrys then turned to the rest of the team who stood back to attention as she raised her voice a little. “We’ll go in as two trains. Mona and Skull? You two with me. Panther, Fox and Noir? You’ll be team two.” She then turned to Makoto with a reassuring smile. “I’d say go with them but it’s up to you. You can go with me and Mona can go with them as their healer, or go with them and Crow comes with us.” She laid it out for her, waving her hands between the two teams as she did so.

“Is it wise to be asking what we’d prefer when entering someplace like this? Surely it would be best to-” Akechi started but Makoto smiled gratefully at Labrys and cut him off, completely ignoring him.

“I appreciate it but it’s probably not a good idea to have both of us on the same team.” She hoped the tone in her voice let her know that she also didn’t want to leave Akechi with the team without their wildcard nearby.

“Ya sure? It’s okay either way.” Makoto nodded resolutely, happy that she knows she’ll have Haru, Ann and Yusuke to help her should anything go wrong, and Labrys will have Morgana and Ryuji to help her. They’d make it through this with their teammates.

She just sort of hoped Akechi didn’t try to pull a fast one on them if anything does happen in there…

“Alright then. Queen will go with Fox, Panther, Noir and Oracle, and Crow will come with me, Mona and Skull. Make sure to hold onto each other as much as possible and team two? Make sure you’re closer to us than usual. It’ll make things a lot easier if somethin’ goes wrong in there. Everyone okay with that?”

“Just one question.” Akechi spoke amidst the murmur of agreement passing over the group. “Why is it so important that you two aren’t in the same team?” He asked, crossing his arms with a thoughtful look on his face. Labrys made to answer honestly before stopping herself and glancing at Makoto for permission.

“Oh we both have trouble with the dark. That’s all.” Makoto smiled indifferently and answered for them. There was a pause as Akechi slowly blinked at them.

“Surely not…” He shook his head in amazement before amusement seemed to run across his face. “And here I was, thinking the great Phantom Thieves were fearless. Your leader particularly.” He chuckled with seemingly well natured smile that did a pretty good job of hiding the majority of his true nature, whatever that may be. “I’d have thought you of all people would be above this sort of thing.” They both bristled a bit at that but before they could respond…

“Don’t even go there.” Ryuji stepped in, a small threatening tone to his firm words.

“Oh? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of it to?” Akechi then seemed to do a double take, a fake expression of shock covering his face. “Ah, my apologies. I didn’t mean to sound-”

“Like hell you didn’t!” Ryuji snapped at him, stepping forward and inbetween the girls and him, probably subconsciously knowing him. “Don’t go thinkin’ you’re all high and mighty cause of something like this! They’ve been through so much shit, you got no right to be lookin’ down on them for somethin’ like that! Show some damn respect!” The team stared at him, some stunned and others with pride. Akechi however…

“A-ah! My apologies! I hadn’t meant to show any disrespect!” He turned to Labrys and Makoto before giving them a small, apologetic bow. “I’m sorry if I offended either of you. I’m sure you both have your reasons.”

“Even if they didn’t, there ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of for being scared of shit. What, you never been afraid of anythin’ in your life? Things like that’s what makes us human, damnit!” Makoto smiled at him then, chancing a glance at Labrys found her biting her lip to keep from beaming at him at that last part. Akechi didn’t say anything for a moment before backing off a bit.

“Human, hm?” He nodded to himself before bowing to them again. “My apologies again. Can we perhaps leave this behind us? We are on a time limit after all.”

“Sure!” Labrys stopped holding back her sunny smile before turning back to the door. “Let’s get this over with, yeah?” She called back, seemingly in a much better mood now and Makoto couldn’t blame her. Ryuji quickly approached her side, offering his hand out to her so they wouldn’t get separated inside and reluctantly did the same for Akechi once he joined them too. Morgana took a running jump at them, landing squarely on Labrys’ shoulder in his cat form.

“Would ya look at that? Skull actually can do something!” He teased light heartedly with a purr.

“Hey-”

“I’m gonna open the door now guys!” Labrys interrupted with a laugh before they could start bickering. The pair of them promptly shut up as she pushed the door open. There were few small moments of hesitation and a brave faced glance back at Makoto before they pressed onwards, the door slamming shut behind them, presumably plunging them into darkness.

“How long do you think it’ll take before Skull breaks his skull?” Futaba chimed in shortly after, earning a low chuckle from Yusuke.

“Unfortunately, Rocket will most likely keep them in line.” He smiled as he approached the door.

“I dunno… with Mona there too, anything could happen.” Ann followed him with a jokingly serious tone to her words.

“I agree. She is a bit outnumbered.” Makoto crossed her arms, pretending to think about this. “Although, she could definitely hold them back.”

“Oh yeah, totally.” Futaba agreed enthusiastically whilst Haru shook her head.

“While that may be true… Do you think Skull and Mona could hold back Rocket if it came down to it?” She also made her way to the door as she skilfully heaved her axe onto her shoulder. Makoto opened her mouth to respond before closing it again. A few moments later and the words came to her.

“Let’s uh… let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that…” Haru gave her a knowing look and a head nod towards her axe and Makoto suddenly worried for Akechi’s safety.

“They wouldn’t stand a chance!” Futaba grinned, catching on to what the nod had meant.

“Come on guys. We can talk about that later.” She gave in, throwing her hands up before taking the lead and offering her hand to Yusuke. He took it without question and offered his to Ann, both of them seeming amused by it all. Once everyone was connected, she turned to the door and pushed it open.

Hopefully they would all make it out the other side of this in one piece and get their just rewards…

[beatcroc]

ok so for once i’m gonna ramble about skullgirls in the tag where people might actually care so here we go

one of the first things that’s rightfully praised about skullgirls is how much personality there is in its character animations, but even the old concept sheets are worth a hell of a lot of commentary and carry a pretty impressive amount of insight to those that went unused [and largely overlooked], so i’m gonna have some fun and see how much extrapolation i can do for a few of them.  [all images taken from the official skullgirls and/or alex ahad’s tumblr]

first up: feng! feng had a relatively high amount of concepts done so she was fun to look at

feng’s movments are, in a word, fluid, and focus on carrying  several distinct strikes through one burst of momentum. 

  once she begins a motion, she’s always ready to follow up with another or two without needing to to give herself a new start point, but in the same token she can also land and balance at any moment during these movements. any successive points she launches herself from continues from/adds to the momentum of the previous, but it seems she never lets the inertia hit a point she can't instantly recover from or change the angle of the momentum with ease.  

a side thing that's pretty neat about feng is she almost always has those darn birds balanced somewhere on her, which means more often than not she has two horizontal and relatively stationary points throughout her movements and idles. there's not anything particularly telling about this, but it does lend itself to a lot of neat poses :b i guess it would imply she’s been preforming with them for quite awhile though...

as an acrobat, feng’s focus is on grace much moreso than power.  she's not a fighter by profession, but she certainly knows how to put her skills to use in combat [and will readily do so!] i wouldn't guess she's used to fighting a specific kind of opponent to have adapted to, or really even had much deliberate fight training, but some of her concepts seem to have a bit of traditional martial arts moments thrown in, so her fighting prowess may be self-taught, perhaps to accentuate movements in her performance. i'm not knowledgeable enough to know which style, exactly, but it's very reminiscent of air [rotational movements, ease of directional momentum shift] and firebending[dynamic kicks and stance changes] movements in atla.

now i don’t actually know anything about fighter meta or how to build a solid character, but were she in the game, she’d definitely be one of those characters that does shit for damage, but can combo to hell and back. she’s maneuverable and you’re toast if she gets to you, but she might also be easier to punish and have few options when it comes to ranged attacks.

next up, black dhalia

dhalia is really interesting because her sketches seem to to focus on snapping from one extreme to another

a mysteriously concealed stance to a swift sudden burst, dhalia’s posture is solid but poised; she’s always ready to spring to action and strike in any direction at a moment’s notice, and when she does she has TON of flair in it. black dhalia knows she’s good at what she does, and she knows she looks damn good doing it.

she also seems to have a knack for following up an initial action/hit with something bizarre out of nowhere that requires no further exertion from her than to hold whatever pose she just struck. she doesn’t usually put too much into any one hit; to get the job done she leans more into her ability to produce something damaging from pretty much any angle or stance. not one to be easily cornered or duped.

as an seasoned assassin, i imagine she's used to taking down targets with a great deal of variety in their strengths and weaknesses.[the medici certainly have many enemies and grudges, so those on their hitlist likely fall all over the place in terms of uh... competence]. she’s ready for anything. if given advantage, she waits to assess an opponent;concealed so as to not betray her plans to the target, and then delivers a precise, decisive blow. if ambushed or outnumbered, she looks to keep opponents at bay with her variety of gun...weaponry. dhalia seems most lethal at close range, but she has the tools and stamina to win a ranged game too.

In practice it looks like she'd thrive on unpredictability, plenty of moves that come out from the same pose super quickly, with slightly above-average power. not the fastest in movement or cooldown, but plenty of versatility to compensate.

on the third hand, we have annie, who is is…amusingly straightforward in all her attacks. 

annie’s pretty much the polar opposite of feng. she uses huge sweeps, fully exerting herself into singular concentrated strikes that are all about getting as much power as possible behind one motion. there is no stopping this girl’s momentum.

like dhalia, annie has a solid stance--but hers is for sturdiness, not surprise; for bracing and anchoring moves that have a lot of kick to them.

it’s hard to say exactly how much involvement sagan would have in her full spectrum moves, but in these examples whenever she uses him, it’s always a... fairly detached thing? like, when annie attacks, it’s either with the cleaver, or with sagan, and there’s not much overlap or synergy between the types of moves.  not that there’s any reason there should be; she utilizes both perfectly well on their own. the cleaver is also interesting because while she can, and often does wield it one-handed, it’s still got enough weight behind it to merit two-handed swings, though she seems to do dual-handed more if there’s some kind of effect along  the swing, like in Crescent Cut and North Sword.                                     

as a self-made skullgirl killer, annie’s targets have probably mostly been very durable and very powerful, but not incredibly mobile. to counter them, she looks to end battles as quickly as possible with defense-shattering strikes or blasts, while using her own mobility to stay out of harm’s way. float like a butterfly, hit like a truck i guess. 

despite also being an actor, annie has practically no deliberate visual flair to her movements [luckily for her, her sparkliness is part of the attack’s functionality so it doesn’t matter much if she’s actually trying to look cool and flashy, it happens regardless :b]. she has a lot of fights under her belt and takes this whole thing pretty seriously.

In practice I can see her being an agile hard-hitter, but slower to start and end moves than average, with relatively low combo potential. pretty balanced with options in terms of ranged/close combat

lastly, umbrella. she lacks a distinct fighting style so i have less to say about that, but honestly the sheer wildness of her concepts merits bringing her up.

her “stance” and lack of cohesion in attacks are at least indicative of one thing though: it’s clear she’s pretty much just a normal carefree little kid who hasn’t yet gotten any real fighting experience or training.

but even if she doesn't know much about combat, she does know about hungern, and how to utilize its, uh... odd capabilities [even if it’s... not always a very dignified use of them.]

like, i feel like these aren’t things a kid would immediately think a weird umbrella would be capable of doing, let alone pick up on how to do them. she’s had to have done some experimentation with it over the years to find out this kind of stuff. had someone taught her, i’m sure she would know a more skillful way to make hungern do its thing than literally just flopping down on top of it [but hey maybe it’s just fun :b] we know krieg is a renoir heirloom, so it might not be a stretch to say hungern was too, and if so it’s safe to say umbrella’s probably had it as long as she can remember, and she seems to have it with her basically at all times. she does seem to enjoy having and using it, though i’d guess she doesn’t  get much opportunity to really ‘unleash’ hungern like this, being sheltered and all.

anyway all that said, i think really the only thing preventing umbrella from being a true force to be reckoned with in-universe is some disciplne. not in the sense that sh’s a bad kid [though she certainly isn’t...exemplar either]; she’s got the willingness to learn and a good bit of know-how, she just need some structure behind it and practice applying what she knows to real situations.

in terms of gameplay...man. i dunno. lotta weird moves, looks like a lot of huge hitboxes that would make her a pain to get to without risk to yourself, though aside from that she’d be average in all ways i guess.

i’m still trying to wrap my head around venus and illeum’s sheets, among others... but there may be a few other posts like this coming ‘cause i love doing this shit; if you wanna see me do a particular [both used or unused!] hmu, i’d be down ;y

[marckiris-road]

The Great Confluence

Chapter 1: The Rising

It was just another beautiful day in the Ivory Isles. Located near the isles is the Isles of Masks, an ancient place full of inhabitants that wears masks as the name suggests. They have a tradition of ritual and disciplined swordsmanship, and those who follow these traditions are called Juggernauts which. One of the Juggernauts was a young man named Yurnero. This man was a stern and serious character, living his life honorably and is a highly disciplined swordsman. His master, Sabasteen was a well-known blacksmith in their land that produced the finest of swords. 

     Sabasteen: Yurnero, come over here. 

     Yurnero: What do you desire master. 

     Sabasteen: A group of thieves have stolen the precious artifacts of the Ivory Isles. It is still unknown on who the culprit is. I need you to investigate the situation. This is a classified mission. No one else must learn about this or else this could stir chaos for our people. 

     Yurnero: By your honor, it will be done. I will not let these traitors go unpunished. 

     Sabasteen: I know you won’t disappoint me and your homeland. Now go. 

Juggernaut went to the monastery of the stolen artifacts. He looked for clues on the where beings of the thieves. The building was clean empty. He searched to bottom, but no evidence was to be found. Just as he was giving up hope on finding evidences on the monastery, he saw a strange unusual pattern on the red wall. 

     Yurnero: Somethings not right here. This doesn’t match the patterns of the other wall. This is blood. It says “The Lost Order”. 

After deciphering the message, the Juggernaut decided to go back to the place his master was staying. Just as he was heading home, he sensed the presence of people following him. 

     Yurnero: One, three, five, seven, a total of nineteen enemies. Its no use hiding. Show yourselves.

 A bunch of men, all wearing masks wearing black robes decided to show up from the shadows. Behind them was a man wearing armor that benefited of a general. It was the lord of the Ivory Isles, Nishigami. 

     Yurnero: My lord, what is the meaning of this? 

     Nishigami: You have involved yourself on a matter that is out of your hands. We heard about it. You know about The Lost Order. 

     Yurnero: How did you know I was investigating this case? 

     Nishigami: The Order has their own ways. As one of the strongest Juggernauts alive, you will pose a dangerous threat to our future plans. So, I have decided to take care of you as soon as possible. And you fell right into the trap. 

The lord of the land then walked away, leaving his minions to take on Yurnero. He was surrounded on all sides, and he was outnumbered eighteen to one. 

     Mercenary 1: Die! 

Just before the mercenary was able to hit Yurnero, he suddenly appeared behind him in the blink of an eye, killing the mercenary. 

     Mercenary 2: What? When did that happen? 

     Mercenary 3: We knew this guy to be dangerous, but this is just absurd! 

Yurnero then suddenly leapt towards each enemy, slashing them instantly without giving them a single moment to react. And soon, all the mercenaries hired to kill him, perished in just a short amount of time. 

     Yurnero: It’s been awhile since I had to use this skill. I must hurry to my master now. He should know the betrayal of the lord of this land. 

Yurnero then arrived to his master’s place and told him everything about what the lord did to him. 

     Yurnero: Master! It was the lord of this land, Nishigami! He was the one who stole the artifacts for his own good! He hired mercenaries to kill me and thought he could get away with it. 

     Sebasteen: It seems the time has finally come. Here take this. You will need it for the journey ahead of you. 

     Yurnero: Your prized sword. Why? I don’t understand. I may be strong, but why are you giving me your most valued treasure? 

     Sebasteen: Your journey is just about to begin. Know that the honor of our kind is with you, and I trust you make the correct decisions. 

*Horn Sounding* 

     Nishigami: Yurnero, come out this instant! 

Upon hearing the voice of the corrupt lord, Yurnero felt like this will only lead to no good. 

     Yurnero: There you are you cowardly traitor! Fight me like a man! Where’s your honor as a swordsman? 

     Nishigami: Don’t lecture me about honor pup! How dare you defy the lord of this land. For that, you shall be severely punished. You are hereby banished from this land, and is denied to experience a noble death. And from now on, you shall be branded as an exile and a traitor to his land! 

As commotion stirred up in the center of their town, more and more people gathered to see what was happening. Hundreds of Juggernauts were present to witness the announcement of the lord. 

     Yurnero: Everyone don’t believe him! He is a traitor to th-

     Nishigami: Silence! One more word and I will end the lives of everyone you love. Hundreds of juggernauts are gathered here. It is not a wise move to do anything stupid. 

     Yurnero: Don’t believe him my fellow Juggernauts! This person is a threat to our- 

The sky suddenly glowed green and magic particles were seeping from the ground

     Nishigami: What is this? What’s happening? 

As purple magic particles seeped from the ground, the sky also suddenly turned green, as if it were the horrifying land of the dead. As everyone was confused on the strange phenomenon, as strong earthquake suddenly occurred and split the land in half. 

     Nishigami: *falls to ground* What is this magic? Who did this? 

     Sebasteen: The time has come. It feels like vengeful magic, it’s the undead. 

     Yurnero: The undead? What is magic of people on the realm of the dead doing here! While everyone was panicking, skeletons then rose from the ground beneath them, and the sky soon became more darker at every passing second. 

     Nishigami: Guards! Protect me! 

     Yurnero: Master run away! I will take care of Nishigami once and for all and bring honor to our country. 

     Sebasteen: No. Its too late for us. This land will soon sink to the bottom of the sea in any moment now. You must live, preserve the honor of the Isle of Masks, and bring us justice! 

     Yurnero: I won’t do it! I can’t abandon you! If our land is to fall then I shall die before that happens. Blade Fury! 

Yurnero’s renowned katana techniques allow him to master the flow of the blade, spinning with his blade gracefully, tearing down every skeleton in his path. The skeletons used magic on Yurnero, but it was to no effect. Other Juggernauts were also fighting throughout the hectic battlefield. 

     Juggernaut 1: Yurnero! You muse leave at once! Leave the rest to us! 

     Juggernaut 2: The honor of our nation shall not be tarnished with the acts of a traitor! 

     Sebasteen: My student! Remember what I have thought you! You mus-

Sebasteen, then got stabbed on the back by a bone sword. He fell to the ground with a huge smack. 

     Yurnero: Master!!!! 

     ???: Ahhh. A student-master relationship I see. *evil laughter* 

     Juggernaut 1: Who are you!? You abomination! 

     Ostarion: I am the Wraith King, Ostarion. I heard the stories of this place. The relics of this nation. So, I just decided to hop by and take it for my kingdom. Submit to the Wraith King’s rule! 

     Yurnero: You fiend! How did the realm of the dead arrive at the realm of the living? 

     Ostarion: You poor naïve child. True you may be strong to some but to me, you are just a lowly rat. There are still a lot of things possible out there that is way beyond your imagination. Too bad you won’t live to see the end of it. Wraithfire Blast! 

Yurnero got hit with the green spectral fire, stunning him. 

     Yurnero: I can’t move. Is this the end? I couldn’t fulfill my master’s wishes. What did he want me to do? 

     Ostarion: *slowly walking towards him* Another subject for the Wraith King. Goodbye! Just before Ostarion could slice Yurnero, a fellow Juggernaut blocked the sword of the king. 

     Ostarion: You lowly plebeian. You dare stand against me? 

     Juggernaut 1: Healing Ward! Purge! Yurnero can you move now!? 

     Yurnero: *pants* Yes, I can. thank you! 

     Juggernaut 1: Run! As you are right now, you cannot take him on! Get stronger and avenge us! Forget about the traitorous lord. I’m sure he has fallen by now! 

     Yurnero: I see his body laying on the ground there, he is turning into a wraith. But brother I cannot leave you to die! 

     Juggernaut 1: Just go! You need to live to tell our story and so our legacy will endure! The other Juggernauts and I will hold him off. Go! 

     Yurnero: But-

Suddenly. A blue wisp suddenly attached to the body of Yurnero, as the tethered wisp approached the Juggernaut, it, and Yurnero were suddenly teleported out of the Isles of Masks. Just after they had escaped, the entire land suffered another strong earthquake, and was devoured by the ocean waves during the night of vengeful magic. 

Chapter Epilogue: 

Yurnero lost everything. His friends, his family, his people, and his fellow warriors. Yurnero was now the sole survivor of his people. He alone remains to carry on the Isle’s long Juggernaut tradition, their art, and to avenge his fallen nation from the hands of suffering so that another nation would not fall victim to the same fate. And so, the Juggernaut embarks on a journey, until the day comes that he and Ostarion would meet again. 

Chapter 2: The Grand Magus

Yurnero saw a flash of bright light. Next thing he knew, he was at another island far from the Isleof Masks. He looked around, and still sees the wisp tethered to him.

   Yurnero: This wisp, you are one of the Fundamentals! The Fundamental of Force. Why did you save me?

    Io: *bleep bloop noises*

Io doesn’t have a clear spoken language, but its reactions are conveyed through sounds which resembles music patterns. Yet, only a few special people are able to understand the wisp’s speeches such as Yurnero due to his connections with the spirits.

    Yurnero: The Great Confluence is soon coming? It does make sense. The realm of the dead suddenly arrived and slaughtered my people. Wait what is that?

At the distance of the cliff they were staying, they saw a green explosion-like fog appeared in the distance. It was the Isle of Masks

   Io: *Bleep Bloop Io noises*

    Yurnero: Yes. It’s my homeland isn’t it? Its sinking towards the sea.

Yurnero tightly grasps his hand and pointed his sword towards the sinking isles

   Yurnero: Master, my fellow Juggernauts, and my people! I shall avenge you. I vow to continue our ways and traditions. I shall make sure to save this realm from the dead!

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

    Yurnero: Thank you kind Fundamental. I will need your protection. If it’s the realm of the dead we’re dealing, we would need an army and more strong arms at our aid. I know a few friends. We should go visit then.

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

Yurnero: Its true, we don’t know where they will strike next. We will have to find out on the way. Hopefully Sven or Tresdin may know a thing or two.

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

    Yurnero: Tresdin is preparing for a war? That may have something to do with the Great Confluence master was talking about. Let’s join her later. We have to go to Sven first. That rogue knight should be of great help to us. Let’s head to Lordaeron, I heard he was recently there.

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

Io and Juggernaut then began their journey to find Sven, the Rogue knight. Three months have passed and on the way to Lordaeron, they have arrived by the Passage of Sarddel which blocked of Lordaeron. A rocky passageway full of gargoyles, golems, and other rock creatures.

    Io: *Squeek high pitched noises*

    Yurnero: Yes, I sense his presence as well. Show yourself!

    ???: Long time no see Yurrnero. I see the Fundaments have also decided to take action.

A mysterious figure emerged from the shadows. A green figure wearing black and green robes holding a staff that glowed with green arcanery.

    Yurnero: Is that you Rubick? It has been a long time indeed.

    Rubick: I heard what happened to your homeland. I’m sorry for your loss. But did there happen to be strong spells that the sunk with your people? And did the realm of the dead show any strong spells?

    Yurnero: So, I lost my everything and the first think you decide to ask is about our lost and hidden spells? You really haven’t changed. Our spells won’t even do you any good for a wizard such as you.

    Io: *Confused Io noises*

    Yurnero: You haven’t heard about this guy? *Laughs*. Let me introduce you. This weird man is Rubick, also known as the Grand Magus. Boy dreams to become like his father, the Apex Mage and the son of the great Aghanim. Rubick this just proves how far you are from achieving your father’s footsteps. Drop it. Stop living in your father’s shadows. And become your own man.

    Rubick: Was that supposed to be an insult!? Io aren’t you supposed to be everywhere attending other businesses such as Lordaeron and Stonehall? My thirst for knowledge can never be quenched, and I will not stop until I achieve my fathers’ fame and power.

     Yurnero: Wait what do you mean about Lordaeron we were just heading there once we are through the Passage of Sardel. And Stonehall too near our Ancient? Did something happen there as well?

     Rubick: Yes. Our Ancient, which is a big structure that watches over the land, and our source of life.

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

    Rubick: So, all this time you were just accompanying Juggernaut on his way to Lordaeron? I thought you should’ve known better. War between the undead and Lordaeron will happen soon. No scratch that. It’s happening right now I believe. I was just on the way there as well.

    Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

    Yurnero: Yes, I owe this wisp my life. If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been a goner. Why do you plan to head there? Do you want to save this realm as well?

    Rubick: Oh nah of course not. One of the generals of the Empire of Bone leads the army attacking there. I merely just want to learn his arcanery.

    Yurnero: Rubick, if you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?

    Rubick: I stand for myself, to become the next Apex Mage, just like my father.

    Yurnero: You- This guy’s hopeless. Where in the world did you get this information anyway?

    Rubick: A few months ago, I went to the Ivory Incumbarium and spoke with Nerif.

    Yurnero: Nerif!? You mean the Nerif the Oracle?! How?

    Rubick: My thirst for knowledge led me to the Ivory of Incumbarium. Yes, a lot of traps are there but my magics easily allowed me to pass through. Yes, getting information from the Oracle was a tough one. We exchanged spells and fought for several hours. I then got my fill of riddles, did some research on it and here we are.

    Yurnero: Did he tell you anything about the Great Confluence?

    Rubick: The Great what now?

    Yurnero: Forget it we’ll deal with it later. Now, we must hurry to Lordaeron. Our friends. I mean, MY friends need our help. Let’s go there now.

    Rubick: Are you saying you’re asking me, the Grand Magus to accompany you to help save a pitiful empire, yet this pitiful realm?

    Yurnero: You’re hopeless and you have no honor. Fine. If you come with us, you will get your fill of magic for your own enjoyment, how about that?

    Rubick: Fair enough. Let us be on our way then.

    Io: *Disappointed Io noises*

Chapter Epilogue:

And so, the Yurnero hurriedly went towards Lordaeron with their new companion, Rubick, the Grand Magus. Despite their difference in their beliefs, Yurnero decided to put up with his narcissistic attitude because his power will be a great aid in order to battle against the Realm of the dead.

Chapter 3: The Siege on Lordaeron

The group finally arrived at the gates of Lordaeron. Fire lit up the night sky, and buildings were blazed in fire. In the entrance, they saw Davion, the Dragon Knight. A powerful, durable, straightforward, yet versatile knight.

     Davion: *Uses Breath of Fire*. That takes care of this batch. Who goes there!?

     Yurnero: We’re friendlies calm down.

     Davion: The Juggernaut, The Grand Magus, and one of the Fundamentals. Its rare to see a bunch of big names gathered in one place. Let’s cut the formalities and get straight into it. Follow me towards our headquarters.

     Yurnero: But what about the City?

     Davion: This was just the first wave. They will come at us at any second now.

     Rubick: You go follow them to plan for whatever you need to plan. I need to examine these bodies and the magic behind this.

      Io. *Bleep bloop Io noises*

      Yurnero: Okay go do your thing. Davion, let’s go.

Yurnero then followed Dragon Knight to their headquarters to discuss about their plans. For the coming of the next wave of undead forces. Inside the building were a bunch of familiar faces that Juggernaut knew.

     Sven: It’s the Juggernaut, Yurnero! It’s been too long!

     Yurnero: Sven! I knew you were here. I’m glad to see you well.

Sven, a rogue knight wielding the massive, Adjudicator’s Blade and the massive shield Vigil Segnet.  

     Invoker: Aeons have I waited, and saved, for this battle to commence! Throughout the aeons I have been known by many names…but my true name of power…is Carl.

     Everyone in the room: ……….

Carl, the Invoker, also known as the Arsenal Magus who mastered the Lost Magic of Quas, Wex, and Exort. He never stops talking and a narcissistic wizard. Despite having young looks, he is a hundred times years old. Everyone hates him. Be it friend or foe. Everyone.

      Yurnero: This is not normal. Its rare to see a bunch us heroes gathered in one place. What brings us all here coincidentally at the same time? Even the Fundamental of Forces and Rubick are outside. Thinks in his mind *Rubick must really regret not being in the room where it happens. *

      Davion: I reside here as the guardian of Lordaeron.

      Sven: I believe Jugg that you have heard me having business here? All of a sudden, these undead started to appear, can’t run from it. And I love my land, I have to fight for it.

      Invoker: I am a beacon of knowledge blazing across a black sea of ignorance. My totality eclipses the cosm! Behold before you, the illustrious, the imperious, ingenious arch-mage… CARL.

      Everyone in the room: ………

Everyone in the room became quiet. Everyone just really hates Invoker.

      Davion: *Coughs* lets get to the meeting at hand. The first wave has caused this much devastation to this city. Luckily, we were able to hold them off.  From the information I gathered, the general leading them was Clinkz. I’m sure all of you here are familiar with the guy.

      Yurnero: Whispers *Just like what Rubick said from the oracle*

      Sven: If its just him this should be fairly easy. His only strength is his Searing Arrows and his Skeleton Walk. If we place sentry wards, we should just be fine.

      Davion: Its not wise to underestimate the enemy. He is a general, of course he must have measures. I heard he brought friends with him to finish us once and for all.

      Sven: We can end this war at Yorktown, cut them off at sea but, for this to succeed there is someone else we need.

      Davion: I know.

The heroes then continued to discuss their plans against the invasion of the coming undead forces. They then manned different entrances of Lordaeron. Juggernaut took the North side. Dragon Knight and his men took the West. Rubick and Sven took the East. Invoker took the South all by himself. And Io stayed in the middle as the support to go to anyone at any given moment.

Soon, the sky filled with red clouds heavily rained. It was time for the battle to commence. The sound of drums grew closer. It was a huge undead fleet that amounts to almost 100 galleon ships. There was a ship however that caught the eyes of everyone. With red and black flags, and a structure that resembled a ghost ship, located at the bow was Clinkz. A burning skeletal marksman who commandeered the entire fleet.

      Juggernaut: Its them. Master, may this momento you left me protect this land.

      Invoker: *Chanting Loudly* Harlek's Incantation of Incineration!

A catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun suddenly appeared, targeting multiple ships. After its channeling, it incinerating all the ships that were hit with it.

      Rubick: Fascinating energy. Let me try that.

Rubick pointed his staff at Invoker from the southern part of the map, and a solar energy came out of Invoker without him realizing it, and was absorbed by the staff of Rubick.

      Rubick: Sun strike!

Rubick tried to do the same thing Invoker did. But was only able to create one ray instead of multiple rays.

     Rubick: Ha! That was terrible…  

      Sven: Your ability as a trickster and in stealing spells is admirable. But why didn’t you target the main ship with Clinkz in it?

     Rubick: That would be disappointing then.

All of a sudden, Clinkz pointed his bow at a sky, and all at once, multiple Searing Arrows rained down from the sky on the entire city.

     Yurnero: Everyone, take cover!

Multiple arrows rained on the ground with each arrow causing an explosion as it hits the ground.

      Sven: *Uses Warcry* Raaaaaaughh!

Sven’s warcry covered his allies with a small shield, but this only helped minimize the damage they sustained.

Soon, the battlefield was covered with smokes.

      Davion: *cough* *cough. Status report everyone!

When the smoked cleared, the entire city was filled with the skeletal army.

      Yurnero: In just a short time, how? Looks like its time. Juggernaaaaaaaaut!

Juggernaut used his Blade Fury, dancing throughout the battlefield like a tornado, shattering all skeletons that came across him.

On the other side, Sven with his giant sword, cleaved multiple skeletons at once with his giant sword.

     Sven: *cough* Jugg! How are you holding? Tell me if you see Clinkz, that little skeleton could be anywhere by now!

Dragon knight then used his Ultimate skill, Elder Dragon Form, and transformed into a black dragon and took off to the sky.

      Davion: Sven your hit. Take it easy. *Uses breath of fire on skeletons* I will search for him throughout the battlefield. I must see how everyone else is doing!

     Invoker: Quas Quas Exort! Killing Wall of Koryx!

An Ice wall appeared, encasing multiple skeletons in ice.

     Invoker: Wex Trionis! Endoleon's Malevolent Perturbation!

An EMP appeared on the battlefield, exploding and emptied the mana of the skeletal mages.

     Invoker: Wex Quas Wex! My foes aloft!

A fast-moving tornado appeared, suspending them in the air and ripping enemies with the wind.

     Invoker: And for the finale, Exort Wex Exort! Gallaron's Abyssal Carnesphere! Behold the meatball!

Invoker pulled down a meteor from the sky, crashing down the land and rolled forward and setting the skeletons aflame, and finished of the last of the remaining skeletons in the Southern part of the City.

     Rubick: *Watches from a distance* *Gulp* There is no spell that I can master, but that guy is just overkill. So that is the power of the Arsenal Magus. Interesting!

     Invoker: Whatever that was, twas scarcely worth my notice. This bores me. Is there none t hat can stand against my will?

Suddenly, a big black green creature that resembled a gargoyle suddenly emerged from the shadows. Dragon knight looked at it from a distance and was shocked.

     Davion: Smoke of Deceit?! Everyone watch out! They have already infiltrated our defenses. They could be anywhere by now! Sentry wards does not reveal enemies using Smoke of Deceit!

The black winged creature spoke in a deep voice.

     Harbinger: Well, well, if it isn’t Carl. If you had studied more arcanery, you might have evaded your own demise.

     Invoker: Harbinger, the Outworld Devourer. What a surprise, you dare fight me? You think Learn how fragile you are! Quas Quas Quas! Sadron's Protracted Frisson!

Invoker casted a spell that chilled the enemy to their core. But it was to no effect. A sudden blue light of barrier emerged from the Outworld Devourer, and blocked the spell completely.

     Harbinger: Linken’s Sphere, the magical sphere that protected famous heroes throughout history. You thought that your spells would have any effect on me? Arcane Orb!

Harbinger's outworldly knowledge allows it to tap into the ebb and flow of all spiritual energy, infusing it into his being. From his staff, he fired off orbs to Invoker, damaging him based on his mana pool.

     Davion:  *watching from a distance* This is bad! Invoker has the highest mana pool around us! Harbinger is the worst possible enemy for a Magic User. Invoker Use your ghost walk and run away! I’m coming!

     Invoker: Aurgh! Quas Quas We-

      Harbinger: It’s too late. This is the end. Astral Imprisonment!

Harbinger casted Astral Imprisonment on both Invoker and Dragon Knight, placing the target in an astral prison, locked away between a pocket between the world, and the Outworld.

    Harbinger: Sanity’s Eclipse!

Harbinger used his ultimate skill, unleashing a huge psychic blast that deals to enemies based on the difference between Harbinger’s mana and the target's mana.

     Invoker; Wex…Quas…Exorrr…aggghhh…

     Davion: Invoker… Although everyone hated you, your service will be highly appreciated, and I will not let your death go in vain.

     Harbinger: Davion, the Dragon Knight. Your lucky your low mana pool saved you from that eclipse. I see you have already used your dragon form. Let’s dance.

     Davion: I will protect this land from the likes of you! What are you even doing here? I thought Clinkz was the one leading the army?

     Harbinger: Don’t be stupid this is all out war. The Realm of the dead has collided with the living, and I to have decided to join Clinkz in the destruction of this world. Your sanity I’ll shatter, and your dreams of peace, I’ll destroy.

     Davion: Both realms have collided? How? Is this the Great Confluence Juggernaut was talking about?

      Harbinger: Juggernaut? He is lucky to be saved by that fundamental. After this place, the king will soon set out to destroy Stonehall, the capital of this world. If the stronghold were to fall, then taking over this realm will be easy.

      Davion: Not if I can help it. I will protect our honor and our country. Let’s get this over with.

Meanwhile, back to Juggernaut over at the other battlefield after the smoke cleared. Yurnero united with Sven and Rubick after the rain of exploding searing arrows.

     Sven: *Cough* Jugg what are you doing here? What about the northern part of the city?

     Yurnero: Don’t worry. I have cleared the entire northern area of all skeletons there. So it should now be safe.

      Rubick: That was quick. I admit we could use some help here.

      Yurnero: Don’t worry about the ships in the northern shore, they were all taken care of by Invoker’s sunstrike. And it seems Clinkz’s ship is here at the port of Yorktown.

      Rubick: I’m surprised though, I thought the rouge knight would be as equally as swift at taking down the enemies as you Yurnero.

      Sven: Says the person who couldn’t perfectly copy the Arsenal Magus. I thought the Grand Magus would be much more skillful than that. I’m the one who protected you from those exploding arrows.

      Rubick: What did you say about the Grand Magus?! I can only perfect spells, if not do it better if I was right in front of them. Invoker on the other hand was over at the other side of the map!

      Sven: At least I was able to take down most of the skeletons here.

      Rubick: What can I do? I’m a magus. I simply support you fight from behind. You’re not even doing your job quickly. So much for the wielder of the Adjudicator’s Blade, the Grand Magus is not impressed.

      Yurnero: He’s right Sven. Its not the size of this sword, its how you use it.

      Sven: Come on Jugg are you literally gonna side with this clown? Take a look at this. Rahaagh!

Sven swung his long blade, and in one strike, it cleaved towards all the other skeletons in the area.

      Sven: See what I did there? I don’t thi- hey. The sentry wards are gone.

      Rubick: Your right. Here let me use the Dust of Appearance just in case.

Rubick then went for his inventory and took out his Dust of Appearance. He tossed it in the air and it sparkled magic dust over the area. Just after he used it, Sven saw Clinkz at his back ready to strike Rubick down.

*Sven pushes Rubick out of the way*

      Sven: Behind you!

The searing arrows hit the shield of Sven, exploding on contact.

      Yurnero: Sven! Are you alright?

Sven was thrown back because of the explosion but was able to stay on his feet.

      Sven: *cough* I’m good. That was bad it almost got you Rubick.

      Rubick: Hmph! I didn’t need your aid.

      Yurnero: Clinkz! You have finally shown yourself you coward. You’re not as weak as you were. I don’t remember your allows exploding on contact.

      Clinkz: I’m surprised you were able to take those shots head on Sven. If not, the Grand Magus would not have lived long enough to follow his father’s footsteps.

      Yurnero: That’s enough now! Why are you attacking this place? How did the realm of the dead get here!?

      Clinkz: You didn’t know? The realm of the dead has merged now with the realm of the living.

      Rubick: The realms have merged. Yurnero, this must be the Great Confluence you were talking about.

      Sven: That would make sense why you would appear in the first place.

      Clinkz: Yes. And now this will be your end. We will take over this realm and shatter you all to a million pieces, to serve our King Ostarion. My partner has already arrived at the opposite end I suppose.

      Yurnero: Partner?

*A huge screeching sound of psychic energy was heard from a distance*

      Sven: That sound!

      Yurnero: The Outworld Devourer, Harbinger!

      Rubick: Curios. I wish to go to that area to take his spell. But alas that won’t be possible. Wait somethings wrong. I don’t feel the magical presence of the Arsenal Magus anymore!

      Clinkz: It seems Invoker has fallen huh? That old man finally bit the dust. Everyone hated him anyways so what’s the big deal.

      Rubick: I wanted to find out his secret arcanery... And it is because of you people that that dream is undone. Guess your magics will have to do as substitute. What a waste.

      Yurnero: I never thought a day would come that Invoker would perish one day.

      Sven: Lets move on it can’t be helped. Harbinger is the number one weakness of mages due to his skills depending on the mana of their target. Come old friend, let us avenge him and fight for this land!

      Rubick: Mystic Flare! Fade bolt!

Rubick fired off a powerful stream of arcane energy towards Clinkz.

      Clinkz: Strafe!

Clinkz then burned brightly and his speed highly increased. He was able to dodge the projectiles headed to him by Rubick. And quickly ran in circles, firing Searing arrows on the three of them simultaneously.

      Sven: *Sven used his warcry* Yahauugh!

Sven's Warcry heartens his allied heroes for battle, increasing their armor and movement speed.

     Yurnero: The lines of the Vigil Codex truly inspire us.

     Sven: Storm Hammer!

Sven unleashes his magical gauntlet and threw a hammer at the ground causing the area around it to leave a hole and smoke to rise up slowing Clinkz down.

      Clinkz: You almost got me the-

Just before Clinkz was able to finish his sentence, Yurnero suddenly appeared from the smoke and casted his ultimate skill, Omnislash!

     Yurnero: Looks like its just you and me. Juggernaaaaaaaaut!

Juggernaut leapt toward Clinkz, and quickly slashed him at multiple sides.

      Clinkz: Urgh! Ghost Scepter

As juggernaut continue slashing Clinkz, he noticed his attacks suddenly passed through him. Yurnero then cancelled his skill and leapt back to Sven and Rubick

      Yurnero: He turned ethereal! Damn it! He wasted my ultimate skill. I won’t be able to use that move again for some time.

      Clinkz: You almost got me there. Death Pact!

Clinkz put pointed his arm at Sven, and grasped his arm towards him.

      Sven: Aurghhh! I lost all my strength! What, what did you do!

      Yurnero: Sven are you alright!?

      Clinkz: I merely just took back the life you stole from me. Now I’m healthier than ever. Burning Army!

2 parallel lines of skeletal archers emerged from their sides.

      Clinkz: Strafe! This is the end for you Sven. Orchid Malevolence! Nullifier!

      Sven: *Sven used his warcry* Yahauugh! What? I cant use it! I’m silenced! I can’t move either! Damn it where did he get such powerful items!

      Yurnero: Sven I got you!

Juggernaut puts up a healing ward towards Sven which allowed him to gain more life energy. As the first barrage of arrows hit Sven, his armor steadily shattered, and his life force weakening.

      Rubick: The healing ward is not healing him fast enough. Telekenesis!

Rubick pointed his staff at Clinkz and raised him up.

      Clinkz: You’re only delaying the invitable! Skeleton Walk!

Clinkz blazed up disappeared from the sky, leaving 2 skeleton archers firing Searing arrows at Rubick!

      Rubick: What!? How could he disappear from the hands of the Arsenal Magus!

Clinkz suddenly appeared at a different angle and used his skill Strafe, blazing up and fired multiple Searing Arrows at Sven.

      Clinkz: Strafe! Good night rouge knight!

Clinkz and his burning army of skeletal archers fired multiple searing arrows at them at once, just before they were able to hit them, a blue line of light suddenly tethered to Sven.

      Yurnero: Io!

Io came behind them at full speed, surrounded with 5 particle spirits that danced around the wisp. The particle spirits blocked all the arrows the burning skeletons coming towards Sven, but took the damage instead from the barrage of arrows coming from Clinkz himself.

      Rubick: Fascinating. What would bring the fundamental to perform such heroic acts on a rogue knight. Let me test my combo with him them. False Promise!

Rubick casted False Promise on Sven, buying him time to live.

      Rubick: He won’t die for as long as the spell last. Combined with your healing ward and Io’s tether, he should rejuvenate quickly. It either promises death, or promises life.

      Yurnero: That spell! Isn’t that from the Oracle? You stole it!?

      Rubick: I did not steal. I merely borrowed.

      Io: *Bleep bloop hurt Io noises*

Drawing energy of matter from all worlds, Io begins unravelling time. Growing bright yellow and giving Sven, his tethered ally an amplification of regeneration, at the cost of its own life force.

      Clinkz: Io the Fundamental!? I didn’t know you were here! An honor to take down a fundamental. Take this!

      Sven: Friendly wisp! You do not need to lose your life for me! You are an important fundamental of the universe! Go!

      Io: *Bleep bloop Io noises*

A barrage of searing arrows hit Io, exploding as it made contact to the wisp. Once the smoke cleared, Sven and Juggernaut were overcome with grief and Rubick was in shock.  All that remained of the cleared smoke were Sven, back to full health and power, and that remaining particles of Io, who took all the damage of the Searing Arrows from Sven, and sacrificed his own life force for him to regenerate quick enough to avoid the promise of death.

Io the friendly jolly wisp who saved not only Yurnero, the last Juggernaut, but also the life of his old friend, Sven, was no more.

Meanwhile back to the Dragon Knight and the Outworld Devourer, their clash came out to a standstill as their soared through the air, dodging each other’s attacks.

     Davion: *pant* *pant* I need to end this soon. My dragon form is about to run out.

     Harbinger: Running out of juice I see? What a pity. Unlike you who has a relatively low mana pool, I never run out of mana thanks to my Essence Flux. The outworld is awash with arcane energy, and they all diffuse through my rifts.

Harbinger decides to fire out more Arcane orbs from his staff. Davion most of it, but got hit at the last one. Davion glided through the air and used his breath of Fire against him, but the Linken’s Sphere protected him from any magic.

    Davion: This is bad. If I’m running low on health and mana. If I don’t take him down, the others won’t stand a chance. Juggernaut and Sven are close ranged fighters so they can’t reach Harbinger in the air, and Rubick and Io are only support heroes, they wont stand a change against a hero who uses their own mana against them. There is only one choice left.

Davion then decided to breath fire around him. Creating smokes between him and Harbinger.

    Harbinger: What are you planning? A smokescreen?

Then out of nowhere, Davion came behind him clipping his wings on Harbinger to bind him and attempted to grab him with his tail to stun him.

    Harbinger: Close call! Astral Imprisonment!

Davion then got trapped on the Astral Imprisonment, disappearing his physical being in their realm from the world for a few seconds and trapped in a ball of prison.

    Harbinger: Sadly, but that was too predictable.

Just as Davion got out of the Astral Imrisonment, Harbinger casted it a second time on him, putting him back again in an orb and dealing damage.

    Harbinger: I’m just toying with you now. Remember I can cast Astral Imprisonment 2 times. This is the end for the Knight and Slyrak, the dragon you got the power from. Sanity’s Eclipse!

Harbinger once again used his ultimate skill, Sanity’s Eclise on Davion, unleashing a psychic blast and sent out a huge sound of psychic energy.

    Harbinger: I heard you were heavy but I found you not so. The end.

Once the Astral Imprisonment ended, he only saw blue smoke, the remains of an illusion.

    Harbinger: Illusion!?

    Davion: Too bad you can’t cast that Astral Imprisonment 3 times!

    Davion appeared once again behind on Harbinger and was able to get a tight grip on him with his wings and his tail

    Harbinger: I can’t move! My wings are… heavy! That illusion! Since when?

    Davion: Behold the Illusionist’s Cape! Rubick gave me this telling me he was curios if this will able to produce an illusion of me during my Elder Dragon Form. Luckily it did.

Davion then flew up high to the sky, then quickly dived down and threw Harbinger’s body crashing to the ground with a huge force. With the last of his mana, he used his full Breath of Fire until he ran out of mana.

    Harbinger: No, this cant be! Fallen… like a stone….

As he said his last words, his body then cracked, and turned to broken pieces of stone.

Davion then flew back to ground, and just in time, returned to his normal human form. He then heads towards the spot where Invoker perished.

     Davion: Although I never liked you, I have avenged your soul, and it was an honor to fight with you, Carl. May your magics and your ego rest in peace.

Now, back to the battle at the West side of Lordaeron, continued the battle of Yurnero and his group against Clinkz, the Bone Fletcher.

     Clinkz: *Maniacal Laughter* It seems I have killed one of the fundamentals of the universe. I hope I didn’t upset the balance or something.

     Rubick: The death of the Fundamental of Force… Interesting.

     Yurnero: Io, you jolly wisp… A person that always put others ahead of itself. Not only did you save mine, but now you also saved my old friend’s life.

     Sven: Raaaaaaughh! *invokes God Strength*

Sven, with the strength of the Sacred Helm, combined with the emotions of the sacrifice of the kind wisp, channels his inner rogue strength turned his body from blue to red, and greatly increasing his damage for a few seconds.

     Clinkz: Wait wait wait… What is that strength, that’s beyond earthly... Wait is that Daedalus!? *Whispers* This is bad, one strike, and I’m a goner…

    Yurnero: Harrgghh!

Yurnero now regaining back his strength thanks to the healing ward, quickly dashed around the battlefield, killing all the skeletons that Clinkz conjured.

     Clinkz: Skeleton wal-

     Rubick: Telekenesis! Too bad skeleton that was a close one. You won’t be able to use Strafe for a while because you just recently used it.

Yurnero suddenly blinked right beside Clinkz and used his Bladefury, spinning his sword and continuously damaging him.

Rubick then blinked at the other side of Clinkz.

    Rubick: Spell steal! Let me try that Juggernaut. Blade fury!

Rubick then spinned his staff around, spinning like a cyclone, dealing just as damage just as effective damage on the other side of Clinkz, pinning him down unable to escape.

Sven then grew closer and closer to Clinkz.

     Clinkz: Wait wait wait!

Sven then hit Clinkz with his sword with such tremendous force, that a huge shockwave generated and flew him across the port hitting the rocks.

     Clinkz: Hurghhh!! That was bad. Really bad! If it haven’t casted Death Pack on Sven earlier, the life I had wouldn’t have been enough to survive it. This isn’t the end! Skeleton Walk!

Clinkz then turned invisible, quickly running away back to his ship and ordering his troops to retreat.

     Yurnero: Damn it! I was just about to finish him off! That guy should not be allowed to live! If he will be able to inform Ostarion of our strengths and plans, we will be doomed.

     Rubick: That blow didn’t finish him off? The Grand Magus is confused. I have no more dust of Appearance to use. What should we do? Can we go after him?

     Sven: It’s alright. We knew Clinkz was always a coward, running away at the very last second. That’s why we asked the aid of a special someone. The hero that ruled the seas. Look at the shore. It’s the admiral’s ship. Cutting of the escape of their ships from escaping.

     Yurnero: As we are right now, we cannot catch up to him. He’s too fast. He probably has already teleported to the safety of his own ship. Can we really trust his skills? His facing against an entire fleet trying to escape.

     Sven: Don’t worry, I have fought with him side by side, and he has mastered the art of battling on the seas. The Admiral Kunkka has admirable skills, all we can do is watch from here and see from afar how he will be able to stop an entire fleet from escaping. That man would literally sink down his fleet just to protect his nation. He will avenge those who have fallen here in Lordaeron.

     Yurnero: I have heard tales of him. Its really stormy right now, so we really can’t do anything. I shall have faith on this person.

      Sven: *Shouting* Kunkka! If you can hear me, you better make sure you won’t let them get away! Avenge those who have fallen, and fight for our land!

Kunkka then shouts out from a distance.

      Kunkka: I hear ya mate! Leave the rest to me and rest well. Get a drink or two! The admirable Admiral Kunkka! At your service.

Chapter Epilogue:

And so, concludes the battle on the city of Lordaeron. The deaths of Invoker and Io will not be in vain. When the heroes were at the headquarters discussing their plan, they wanted to cut them off at sea just in case Clinkz escapes. But for it to succeed, there was someone else they need: Admiral Kunkka.

Chapter 4: The Battle of the Gulf of Yorktown

     Kunkka: Rough seas ahead, crew. Strap me to the mizzen when I give the word.

The Admiral Kunkka, is a great leader of the Claddish Navy, who uses the legendary rapier, Tidebringer.  What makes him different from the others however is that he is a one-man navy. Having lost his crewmates in the past, he commands the seas with his ghostly crew.

It was heavily raining; waves were rough and lightning flashed through the skies. Kunkka however was able to commandeer his ship as if it was the finest of weather, sailing unbelievably fast. As Kunkka sailed his ship, the other heroes watching from the shore saw something weird.

     Yurnero: The ships are suddenly fading from sight.

     Rubick: It must be the work of Clinkz, using his invisible skills on his ships.

     Sven: Not to worry, he has a counter for that.

      Kunkka: Ahh invisbility. None can hide from the view of the Gem of True Sight.

      Clinkz: The gem? Damn. My cloaking skills are useless against it. Everyone, fall back at full speed! Other ships, buy us time to escape.

      Kunkka: No, you’re not getting away.

Kunkka then while piloting the ship rammed one of the enemy ships, tearing it apart instantly. He then raised his arm towards the sky.

He summoned a number of rising torrents from the seas, hoisting up multiple enemy ships towards the sky. The ships that were hit by the torrents lost their balance, and crashed towards the ocean floor once it fell back down.

     Skeleton Soldier: Sir! He has destroyed multiple ships! Only a few ships remain!

     Clinkz: If I were in the position to fight, I would’ve taken him out by now. But the wound that Sven dealt to me is too serious. We must focus on escaping. Order some of the ships to board him. This will bring us time to get into the fog and lose him. Just in case, call for Tidehunter.

Several ships then headed towards Kunkka, and a single ship blocked his way towards the enemy’s main ship.

     Kunkka: I see the lot of ye boarding my ship ey?

A number of skeleton warriors board his ship.

      Kunkka: I must thank you for boarding this ship. If anything, you just made it easier for me.

Kunkka then unsheathed Tidebringer, and with a single slash with his rapier, all skeletons on board were instantly killed, and in the back, destroyed all the ships surrounding him.

     Clinkz: Did he just destroy all of our ships in one slash? We have no other way to escape, but to sink his ship once and for all. I did not want to use my skills so that we won’t reveal our location, but this is dire. Due to my wounds, I will not be able to use the best of my abilities. Long range artillery is all I can provide.

Clinkz then drew his bow and aimed at Kunkka’s ship firing a barrage of searing arrows. Some of his arrows made direct contact with the ship, causing them to explode on impact, slowing down Kunkka’s ship.

     Kunkka: You thought you could get away by slowing down my ship?

Kunkka then waved his arms in an X formation. Soon, Clinkz’s ship began to leave a red line, and from where it started, an X was located.

Kunkka then completed his skill, and just as the ship returned to the area of the X, a strong torrent of water lifted the enemy’s ship.

      Clinkz: Stabilize the ship! He hasn’t arrived yet?!

Clinkz’s ship was able to maintain balance when it fell back down to the rough seas. Just before Kunkka could get in range to the ship, a huge leviathan from beneath the water emerged, knocking back Kunkka’s ship and separating Kunkka and Clinkz.

     Kunkka: Well, Tidehunter, look what the tide washed in.

     Tidehunter: Kunkka, I thought I left you on the bottom of the sea.

Tidehunter emerged from the sea, a leviathan with tough hide and his ocean spells that sweep enemies upward. He is also the rival of Kunkka, proclaiming him as his archnemesis.

Meanwhile, back at the shores of Yorktown, the other heroes watched as Tidehunter emerged from the sea.

      Rubick: Tidehunter? How is he hear? Is he working with Ostarion?

      Sven: I believe he is the archnemesis of Kunkka.

      Yurnero: This is bad. Tidehunter will give Clinkz enough time to repair his ship, and escape.

      Sven: Lets just watch. It isn’t over.

On the strong waves, and heavy weather, Kunkka and Tidehunter looked at each other on the eye.

     Kunkka: I know you want to settle our battle once and for all, but see that ship right there, I can’t let them escape and I’m running out of time.

     Tidehunter: Is that what you want? Then be my guest go ahead. But you have to get through me first.

Tidehunter opened his mouth, and summoned a gush of water that damaged the hull of Kunkka’s ship. While they were fighting, Clinkz continued to steadily shoot Searing arrows in order to buy he and his crew enough time to make repairs after sustaining damage from the torrent they were hit earlier.

     Skeleton Warrior: Sir! We are almost done with our repairs; we should be able to sail and escape in a few minutes!

     Clinkz: Hurry up! I can’t continue this forever! I am still heavily wounded!

Meanwhile, Kunkka and Tidehunter exchanged blows with each other, while Kunkka also dodging he and his ship from Clinkz’s raining arrows.

      Tidehunter: I see your death drawing near! Kunkka!!!

Tidehunter then smashed his anchor towards Kunkka, with him barely able to block it with his rapier.

     Tidehunter: Ravage!!

Tidehunter slams the area around him, calling the abyssal god Maelrawn, and causing multiple tentacles to erupt from all directions. Kunkka’s ship was thrown through the air, and as it was airborne, his ship took direct hit from Clinkz’s exploding arrows. As his ship went back to the ground, he saw the boat of Clinkz to continue moving. He knew he only had one option left in order to not let him escape.

     Kunkka: Well. It was nice meeting you guys while it lasted!

     Tidehunter: Are you giving up now Kunkka? Your ship looks like it won’t be able to sustain much more damage.

     Kunkka: I’m gonna miss you, you slimy wretch.

     Tidehunter: What do you mean?

Kunkka pointed his sword forward, what appeared however were a fleet of phantom ships. They may seem like an illusion to the eye, but the damage it causes were all real. Tidehunter got hit by the first 4 ships that rammed into him head on. On the 5th ship, Kunkka jumped on that last ghostship to get close to tide. Before the ship was able to hit the leviathan, Kunkka jumped from the ship into the air,  and he thrusts his rapier forward, cutting Tidehunter on his throat.

     Kunkka: Ah, Tidehunter, you cared enough to hate me. You can't buy that sort of love.

     Tidehunter: Kunkkaaa!!!!

As Kunkka sliced down on his throat, Tidehunter fell down the sea, sinking to the abyss. Kunkka then leapt back into his ship. When he looked at the location of the ship of Clinkz, it was too far for any of his abilities to reach, and his ship was too damaged to catch up on the rough seas. He only had one thought in mind.

He casted Torrent on his own ship, and a gush of water propelled the ship far up into the sky. It then kept going towards an angle on Clinkz’s ship, making his ship the weapon to destroy Clinkz’s final ship.

     Clinkz: What! How did you catch up?! What you’re doing is suicide!

Kunkka then drew his sword towards Clinkz.

     Kunkka: Suicide? No. I simply cannot let you live for the sake of my land. Your king will lose in the final battle. As for me? Well, a captain always goes down with his ship.

As Kunkka said those words, his ship rammed with Clinkz’s ship, destroying both ships in the process and sank them towards the depths of the sea.

Back in the mainland, the surviving heroes gathered up to discuss their plans.

     Davion: Today, a lot of brave souls perished for the city. And we lost special heroes. We lost Io, Kunkka, and that wizard.

     Yurnero: Their death will not be in vain. At least now, we significantly damaged their army’s strength, and we now know where the final battle will be.

     Sven: It was at Stonehall if I am correct? The main capital of this world.

     Davion: I wish I can go to, but I have to lead the repairs here in Lordaeron and defend it for any incoming attacks. Can you heroes go there and defend our Ancient, and save the world for the sake of all the people?

     Yurnero: By my tribe’s honor and legacy, I will do it and to avenge our fallen comrades.

     Sven: I will punish and cleave through their entire armies. This is what the kind wisp wanted me to do, and Kunkka had faith on us to stop the war once and for all. I will not let their sacrifices go in vain.

      Rubick: I am curios to what the Realm of the Dead has to offer. Maybe there, I can continue to hone my magics.

     Davion: Thank you heroes. It was an honor fighting alongside you all.

Chapter Epilogue:

And so, they parted ways, and Yurnero, Sven, and Rubick decide to head to Stonehall in advance to prepare for the last and final battle against the Wraith King. This is to avenge their families, fellow heroes, and for the sake of the people living in this world. They must win the final battle against the Realm of the Dead, in order to stop the influence of the Great Confluence.

Chapter 5: The Ancients

Several days have passed and they have arrived to the capital of their land, Stonehall. When they arrive at the gate of Stonehall, they were met with guards guarding the entrance.

     Guard: Who goes there?

     Captain: Don’t worry, I recognize them. Heroes, we were expecting you.

     Yurnero: You knew we were coming? How?

     Captain: Commander Tresdin already got wind of what happened back in Lordaeron. We already know that the final assault of the undead army will occur sooner or later.

     Sven: Tresdin? The Legion Commander?

     Captain: Yes. I was ordered to wait until you arrive, and escort you to our headquarters. Follow me.

     Yurnero: Very well captain, lead the way.

     Rubick: It’s been awhile since I last came here. Beautiful place, Ivory towers, magical defenses, and mysterious creatures.

     Sven: We are here to get ready for the battle. Use whatever arcanery you know on the field, not here.

The group then followed the captain to the headquarters. When they arrived there, they met with the Legion Commander, Tresdin, and Mars, the first son of heaven.

    Yurnero: Tresdin! And Mars? Why are you down here?

    Mars: I was sent from heaven to take care of the Great Confluence. As the god of war, I shall partake in this last battle. Heaven has already had their deal with the realm of the dead. Its time to end them once and for all.

    Tresdin. Juggernaut & Sven we welcome your aid. Rubick, have you come here to study? Or to fight.

     Rubick: Legion Commander, it is through battle where I learn new magics, tactics, and discoveries. I simply am just following Yurnero because it just so happens that events bring us together.

     Mars: The Grand Magus. You bring dishonor to the art of war. If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? At least Aghanim’s died, leaving behind his scepter to you. What have you done with it so far? No wonder you can’t reach the heights of your father.

     Rubick: Do not lecture me. You may be a god, but my magic far overpowers your skills.

     Sven: Stop it now. We need to work together people. Rubick, your skills of craftsmanship may be worth mentioning, but without the rest of us watching your back, you are easy prey to them.

     Yurnero: Let’s get back to the matter at hand. Tresin, what information have you collected thus far?

      Tresdin: Not too long ago, I and Mars were in combat with a platoon of their army. Its been several days of non-stop war. After all, you have heard of it right? The base of the enemy is not too far from here.

      Sven: Their base is situated near here? Does that mean their Ancient as well?

      Mars: We were able to take out a lot of them, but just as we decided to push towards their Ancient, Ostarion appeared.

      Tresdin: We were about to engage him in battle, but soon, more heroes followed behind him.

      Rubick: I see, more people to play with then? Who were they?

      Mars: From what we saw it were Pugna, the Nether Mage. Chaos Knight, one of the Fundamentals of the World, Viper, the Netherdrake, and Abaddon, the Lord of Avernus.

      Sven: It’s a 5 v 5 then.

      Tresdin: Yes. The plan is by tomorrow dawn, my army and Mars’ will join forces and set up a barricade on the outskirts of the city.

      Yurnero: It’s an attack and defense then.

      Mars: Yes. There are three lanes that connects both ours and the enemy’s Ancients. The top lane, the middle lane, and the bottom lane. The top lane is the longest route towards them. The middle lane is the shortest, but it would also be the busiest and the most heavily defended. The bottom lane is shorter than the top lane, but I doubt it would be easy to push it. Their tank will likely stay there.

      Rubick: From the looks of it, the top lane is our offlane, and our bottom lane is our safe lane. The enemy heroes will also situate themselves accordingly.

     Tresdin: Here is the plan. Mars and Rubick will take the offlane. Sven and Juggernaut, take the bottom and the mid lane respectively. I will roam the jungle to assist lanes periodically and hunt down any enemies I come across.

     Mars: Always report their movements. We should be able to communicate telepathically thanks to our Ancient near us.

     Sven: And the goal is to destroy their Ancient am I correct?

     Mars: Yes. Remember. Always bring a town portal scroll, incase they breach one of our lanes.                        

     Rubick: We will launch our attack tomorrow right?

     Tresdin: Yes, spend the rest of the night to gather all the equipment you require.

As the sun sets, the 5 heroes gathered at the porch of the headquarters to appreciate the beauty. It will be a long time before they will be able to see a view as majestic as this.

     Rubick: This view, its truly remarkable. Let’s not make this the last sunset.

     Sven: That’s rare, considered it is coming for you.

     Yurnero: We already have lost countless men, ally’s, and friends to get this far. Let’s not make their sacrifices in vain.

     Tresdin: We may not live to see our glory, but it will be an honor to fight alongside you all. I’ll get going now.

     Mars: I’m going ahead now. See you on the battle field.

     Sven: Me too, I have matters to attend to at the city and check our ancient.

Tresdin, Mars, and Sven the left the porch to prepare for the battle tomorrow, leaving Yurnero and Rubick to enjoy the view together.

     Yurnero: Hey Rubick.

     Rubick: What is it?

     Yurnero: Tell me, honestly, how do you feel? Your tone when you saw the sunset, it is not the usual you who only cared and thirst for knowledge.

     Rubick: Yurnero, it seems you have noticed. I have put some thought about what everyone has told me about on our journey together. When we arrive here at Stonehall, and I saw the Ancient, I have forgotten that it is what binds all of us together. Including our life force, and the magic around us that we all use. I am just, thankful for it. I feel father’s creations flowing around from the Ancient.

     Yurnero: That’s wow… I didn’t expect that coming from you. For the sake of everyone, we shall protect it, and destroy the enemy’s Ancient once and for all. This should put a stop to all the undead’s life force. If they do it to ours, then not just us, but everything, the trees, animals, civilians, people, everything in the land of the living will wither and die. Failure is not an option. I am glad you have finally come to realize that.

     Rubick: Yes, although my curiosity knows no bounds, I am glad to finally decided to find a reason to stand and fall for.

     Yurnero: For the sake of our fallen comrades, and for our realm, failure is not an option, even if it costs us our own lives. The mission? We get our hands dirty and the world stays clean.

Chapter 6: Defense of the Heroes

Its early dawn, the heroes have gathered, and the war has begun. From a distance Mars shouted:

      Mars: To those behind, Rally!!! To those ahead, kneel.

      Juggernaut: Lets do this! Master, the day has come for the final battle. Ancestors, watch over me. Juggernauttt!!!

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the battlefield, Ostarion and his allies were discussing.

      Pugna: My king, it seems the enemy has launched an all-out attack. This seems to be the final battle.

     Ostarion: Very well, it’s time to end this once and for all. Unleash the full army of the Realm of the Dead. Protect the ancients at any cost, and crush them down at their hooves.

The battlefield on all lanes soon then clashed each other. Over at the mid lane, Juggernaut was pushing through the hordes of undead army. As he pushed through, he then soon saw a red knight, mounting his steed that came from hell.

     Yurnero: A fundamental, like Io! Chaos knight! The fundamental of Chaos.

     Chaos Knight: Ahh Yurnero. How was your journey with Io? Too bad that wisp blew up. I was hoping that I would see him face to face as one of the Fundamentals of the universe, but too bad.

Yurnero then without a moment’s hesitation dashed towards him, and sliced him down multiple times. After slashing him down, it only appeared to be an illusion.

      Yurnero: An illusion? Damn. Where could the real one be?

Meanwhile over at the bottom lane, Sven cleaving through multiples of enemy armies was soon met a fallen warrior that had the power of the mist and riding his blue steed, Abaddon, and a skeleton filled with energy from the Nether Reaches Pugna.

     Sven: Ahhh, the Lord of Avernus and the Nether Sorcerer. What an honor facing 2 heroes at once just for me.

     Abaddon: Sven the rogue knight, Honors to you and to the rogue's code you follow. But, to die at a noble hand is no guarantee of a noble death.

Sven then charged towards them and threw a storm hammer on Abaddon, but with his steed, he was able to simply evade it. Abaddon then charged at Sven and just as his horse passed by him, he swung his sword on Sven damaging him.

      Abaddon: My attacks slows you down, and making me faster. Your death is at hand.

Soon green particles appeared on the ground Sven was standing on, and suddenly an exploding pulse appeared, damaging Sven.

     Pugna: You didn’t forget about me did you?

Sven then quickly got back up from his feet and threw a dagger behind Pugna. Pugna dodged the small dagger, but Sven suddenly appeared on the dagger’s location. Just before Sven could hit Pugna with his sword, Abaddon pointed his sword towards Pugna.

     Abaddon: Aphotic Shield!

As Sven swung his sword on Pugna, a shield appeared on him, exploding upon hit, damaging Sven. But Sven’s attacked caused Pugna to fly back, and his sword cleaved all the way to Abaddon, damaging him as well.

      Abaddon: Not bad.

Suddenly, a barrage of arrows suddenly rained down on Abaddon and Pugna. Tresdin suddenly arrived from the trees.

      Tresdin: Sven. Heal up!

Tresdin then sound a horn on Sven, regenerating his health back up and gaining him an increased attack speed. She then charged towards Abaddon.

      Tresdin: Come Lord of Avernus, lets duel!

An arena then suddenly appeared between them, forcing Abaddon to exchange blows with Tresdin unable to run away. Sven then threw another storm bolt on Abaddon, stunning him and hitting him several times,

      Pugna: Abaddon, don’t die on me now this early.

Pugna then used Life drain on Abaddon, giving his own life force to rapidly heal him.

After 4 seconds, Abaddon regained consciousness after getting hit by the Storm bolt and casted his ultimate skill.

     Abaddon: Come, I dare you. I’ll take your worse

Just before Abaddon’s health ran out, he casted Burrowed Time, his ultimate skill. Tresdin then saw that each time she and Sven would hit him, he would gain more life instead, healing him instead of damaging him.

      Tresdin: Sven, stop attacking and let’s reposition. Atleast he has now used his ultimate.

      Abaddon: You have to try a little harder than that. Abaddon then waved his sword around him and Pugna, covering both of them with the mist.

      Sven: Tresdin, get ready. *Uses Warcry*

When the mist cleared, it seems that both Abaddon and Pugna were gone.

      Sven: Where are they?

      Tresdin: They must have gone to the other lanes. Continue pushing forward. I’ll go through the jungles once again and assist the other lanes.

      Sven: Roger that.

Meanwhile at the top lane, Mars and Rubick were holding out against Viper.

      Mars: Rubick! Hit him with your spells while I block his attacks with my shield!

Rubick then used multiple skills on Viper, but the Netherdrake glided through the air evading their attacks.

      Viper: You can’t catch me with your skills. Take this! Nethertoxin!

Viper spits out nethertoxin on the ground of Mars, causing the ground to bubble with poison.

      Mars: Urgh. This poison is so annoying!

      Rubick: Purification! Heal! This will prove to be troublesome. I can’t use any of my spells against him. He is immune to his own Poison.

      Mars. Let’s slowly pull back. We cannot push this lane. Viper is giving us quiet a predicament.

Soon, a mist appeared on Viper, surrounding him.

      Rubick: That mist. Its Abaddon!

      Mars: It seems they decided to make an all out push on the top lane.

Abaddon then suddenly appeared out of the mist with his steed, charging towards Mars.

      Rubick: Spell Steal! Aphotic Shield!

      Mars: Shield Wall!

Mars smashes Abaddon with his shield, knocking him back.

      Pugna: Your life is mine!

Pugna used his ultimate skill on Mars, sucking out his HP.

      Rubick: Spell Steal! Telekinesis! Life drain!

Rubick then lifted Pugna from the ground, interrupting his channeling of Life Drain, and then smashing him to the ground, stunning both Abaddon and Viper. He then used Life Drain on Mars, allowing him to regain the HP he lost from Pugna.

Viper then after recuperating from the stun suddenly flew to another and used Viper Strike on Rubick.

     Viper: Rubick, you will look good with some more green!

     Mars: Bulwark!

Mars then appeared in front of Rubick, taking the damage from Viper’s attack.

     Rubick: Spell Steal! Viper Strike

Rubick then quickly stole Viper’s spell and casted it on Pugna at the back. Pugna was directly hit by the powerful poison.

     Pugna: Aurghhh! Abaddon!

     Abaddon: Aphotic Shield! Mist Coil!

Abaddon then encased Pugna with a shield to minimize the damage he sustained, and healed him with mist coil at the small cost of some of his life.

     Mars: Aurghh! That hurt, lets slowly pull back. With the three of them here, we will be able to buy time for the rest of the lanes to push towards the enemy Ancient.

Mars and Rubick then slowly pulled back to the entrance of the city. There, hordes of allies from the Bronze and Ash Legion charged at the 3 enemy heroes. But they did not do much. Abaddon galloped throughout the field, slicing enemies with his chilling sword. Viper flew around the battlefield spitting poison, and Pugna casting Netherblasts on the defenses, breaking buildings with ease.

      Abaddon: You only delay the inevitable.

     Mars: This will be tough. We need to buy them as much time as possible Rubick.

     Rubick: Yes, understood. Time to test me knew set of skills acquired from the previous battles. Fade bolt! Earthquake!

Rubick and Mars continued to stall the enemies at one of the entrances of the allies’ Ancient.

Meanwhile Tresdin was on the jungle slowly heading to the mid lane to help Yurnero push to the enemy’s Ancient.

      Tresdin: Its near, I can sense it. I’m coming Juggernaut, lets push together.

      Chaos Knight: Where do you think you’re going Tresdin?

      Tresdin: Chaos Knight? I have no time to fight with you.

Tresdin then went for a different route on the jungle, only to face with Chaos Knight once more.

      Chaos Knight: How rude, ignoring me like that:

      Tresdin: Out of my way!

As she sliced him up, it was only an illusion. Soon as he looked around her, he was surrounded with 7 horsemen from all different sides.

     Tresdin: What? How? Since when?

     Chaos Knight: Come Armageddon. Let’s show her chaos. Planeshift.

Chaos knight with all of his illlusions pulled Tresdin and them together, striking her down simultaneously with his multiple illusions of himself without giving her a single moment to react.

     Tresdin: I'll never yield. Urghhh…

Chaos Knight: Your time on this plane is ended.

Meanwhile at the mid lane, Yurnero was steadily charging towards the enemy’s ancient. After a while, he finally reached the enemy’s stronghold. He sliced his way towards their Ancient until he finally was close enough to it.

     Yurnero: This is it. It’s now or never.

Yurnero leapt towards the building to destroy it. But before he could, he saw a blade thrust at him at the corner of his eye, aborting the attack and leapt back to evade the attack.

      Ostarion: Well, well, well. Look who finally showed up.

      Yurnero: Ostarion! You will pay for what you have done to the Isle of Masks, and for what you have done to this realm.

      Ostarion: Very funny Juggernaut.

Ostarion looks over at the other entrance of their stronghold.

      Ostarion: Look who else decided to show up.

      Yurnero: Sven!

      Sven: Jugg! You’re already here! Let’s take him down together!

      Ostarion: Let’s see you try. Wraithfire Blast!

Ostarion threw a Wraithfire at Yurnero.

      Yurnero: Blade Furrryyyy!!!!

      Sven: Reaughhh!!!! Storm Hammer!

Sven activated his warcry, giving both him and Yurnero more movement speed and threw a storm hammer at Ostarion.

Ostarion blocked the hammer with his sword. He put the sword on the ground to block the spinning blade of Yurnero, and used his Armlet of Mordiggian to fend of Sven’s attacks.

The 3 heroes then clashed in front of the enemy’s Ancient. Yurnero danced and blinked with his blade around Ostarion from all sides, but Ostarion would always be able to parry them with his sword. Sven then would slash Ostarion, but he would always evade the sword and sometimes, punch him with power using the Armlet of Mordiggian. A gauntlet that sacrifices the user’s life energy to gain immense strength and power.

      Ostarion: Is that all you can do?

Yurnero then pulled out a healing ward to heal both him and Sven.

      Yurnero: This is tough. Listen I got a plan, but we only have one shot.

      Sven: Alright. Just like old times then.

As Yurnero dashed towards Ostarion, he threw a dagger at Ostarion. He then suddenly blinked towards the dagger and striked him with his sword. As Ostarion blocked the main attack, Yurnero took out another blade from his arsenal. He then blinked behind him, and stunning him with the Abyssal Blade.

      Ostarion: Is that the Abyssal Blade!? Where did you acquire it?!

Sven then pulled all his might and slashed Ostarion with his sword. Scattering his different bones across the ground.

      Yurnero: Lets end it Sven!

They then rushed towards the Ancient to destroy it. But before they could, the hear a pack of horses galloping at the distance.

     Chaos Knight: Reality Rift!

Chaos Knight warped reality and targeted Sven. He and his illusions then strike Sven down, tossing him over the ground and damaging his shield.

     Yurnero: Sven! Are you alright!?

     Yurnero then looked at Sven’s directions. Then he heard footsteps behind him. When he looked back, he saw the blade of Ostarion striking him. He then tried to block it with the sword his master gave to him, but the sword fell to the ground. Ostarion then picked up the sword and sliced up Yurnero’s mask, cleaving it into two and cracking its top. He then fell to the ground.

      Ostarion: That was a close one. Did you forget? I am immortal! *evil maniacal laughter*

      Sven: Jugg… No!!!

      Chaos Knight: Your friend is dead. I already took care of Tresdin too. Now, you’re next.

As the illusions of Chaos Knight grew closer to Sven, they suddenly stopped when Yurnero’s mask started to emit blue particles of light.

      Sven: What is that? What is happening?

     Yurnero’s entire body then rose from the ground, and from the crack of his mask, a small dragon suddenly came out from within it. The crack then awakened the ancestral souls that laid dormant inside it. Among the spirits was an ancient dragon named Akakiryu. The Juggernaut then stood up back from his feet. The dragon then encircled around him, and now begins to accompany him and reuniting with his former master, contributing his powers to him. Thus, the Juggernaut became a being merged from many souls. The dragon's might, combined with the strength of his ancestors, made him more powerful than ever before.

      Ostarion: What is that? How are you still alive?

      Yurnero: The souls within Yurnero have been awoken. It is us, the people you murdered. With the mask sundered, our souls can finally be free. In a past life, we were branded as traitors… And denied a noble death. Together we will find a way to bring back our people. Once the Ancient is destroyed, our real work can begin. We are Juggernaut. We are Yurnero.

Meanwhile, back at their stronghold, Rubick and Mars were having a hard time trying to hold off their enemies.

      Pugna: A blast from the Nether Reaches!

The last line of defensive towers now crumbled at the magic of Pugna.

      Abaddon. We have now finally arrived at the Ancient. One last push, and the land of the living will be no more.

      Mars: Not if I can help it!

Mars then threw his spear towards Abaddon, Impaling him and his steed on a wall.

      Abaddon: Urgh. You are only delaying the inevitable.

Viper the flew threw the skies, dodging all projectiles aimed at him while spewing out poison on their Ancient.

      Rubick: This is bad. Our Ancient is under attack!

Abaddon then managed to get free from Mars’ spear, and was now heading to attack the Ancient. Mars then drew another from his hand and blocked his way.

      Mars: We’ll have to make this last bit count. Now’s the chance, their all grouped up at one spot. Its time to give it our all.

Rubick then used his blink dagger to blink in between the three enemy heroes.

     Rubick: Ravage!

Rubick then casted his staff upward, summoning tentacles from beneath the ground and knocking everyone up into the air.

     Pugna: What!? Wasn’t this supposed to be Tidehunter’s ultimate skill?

Mars then followed and pointed his spear into the air.

      Mars: To the death! Rise, Arena of Blood!

Mars then summons an inescapable arena from the ground, with his finest soldiers of the Ash Legion pushing them towards the center of the arena while they were stunned by Rubick’s Ravage.

     Rubick: Black Hole!

Rubick then conjured a black hole, drawing all three enemies towards the center, greatly damaging them. Pugna couldn’t handle the force and soon, his bones cracked and his life force gave up.

      Pugna: I should have known! Urghh

      Abaddon: Damn you! *Activates Burrowed Time* Aphotic Shield!

Abaddon then escapes the pull of the Black Hole and charged towards Mars to take care of him once and for all. Viper was then able to escape the vortex of nothingness thanks to Abaddon’s shield, buying him a split second to fly off.

      Rubick: Will-O-Wisp! Brightly Shine!

Rubick then conjured a bright light of wisp, blinding both Abaddon and Viper, stalling more time.

      Viper: These are the skills of the other 2 fundamentals. How?

      Rubick: I have spent time long enough with Io to understand the skills of the other Fundamentals.

      Mars: Yurnero! Sven! Hurry up! We can’t hold them off for much longer now!

Back at the enemy’s stronghold, Juggernaut has awakened to their true form, stronger than ever.

      Sven: Jugg? Is that still you?!

      Yurnero: Sven, you have played your part well. Once Yurnero was the last of his kind, but no longer. Changed, but still…the Juggernaut. The strength of fallen brothers and sisters flows through this body. Call us Juggernaut.

Juggernaut’s voice has noticeably changed and echoed. His manners of speaking has grown deeper, and now refers to himself as “we”. Sven, knowing he was alright, gasped out a sigh of relief.

      Yurnero: We need to hurry, they are attacking our ancient as of this moment.

      Sven: Then let’s spare no time. Raurrghhhh!!!!    

Sven then unleashed his skill, God’s Strength, turning his blue armor to read, and his attack greatly increasing. He then took out a weapon and used it. It was the Black King Bar. Which increased his size, and grants him immunity to all incoming magic.

      Chaos Knight: I will not let you do as you please. Phantasm! Manta Style! Behold, the horsemen of the apocalypse!

Chaos then continued to create more illusions of himself, amounting up to 20 different copies. Sven then charged at them one by one, but only destroying an illusion.

     Sven: If that’s the case, this ought to do it.

Sven’s armor then glowed blue. He activated Shiva’s Guard, which caused an area around him to create a freezing field. He then looked for the real copy. Sven then threw a storm bolt and flung towards the real copy. He then flung his sword, hitting the actual copy of Chaos Knight.

      Chaos Knight: Thrown…from my steed. Ughhh. How…

      Sven: Illusions don’t breathe the cold air. It was fairly easy.

      Chaos Knight: Noo.. This cant bee…. Urgh..

      Ostarion: The fundamental falls? Unreal. You will not get away with this. Submit to the King’s rule!

Just as Ostarion finished his sentence. Yurnero suddenly appeared in front of him and performed A thousand cuts in a single second.

     Ostarion: This speed… This is unreal!

     Yurnero: You will pay for what you have done to our kin. This world shall live on.

Ostarion then once again scattered to a thousand broken pieces.

Sven and Yurnero then simultaneously hit the ancient with powerful blows. Soon enough, the enemy’s Ancient cracked and at last, it finally has been destroyed.

     Ostarion:  Urghh… So, this is how it ends? I feel my soul, leaving me now….

Meanwhile, back at the ally’s Ancient,

     Abaddon: No… this cannot be... we were so close... How can such a thing be?

      Viper: Can't feel my wings. I fly… no more….

      Mars: Huff... Puff… They made just in time…

      Rubick: So, this is the power of the Ancients… such strong power. We finally did it. We have ended the Great Confluence.

Back at the enemy’s stronghold, Yurnero and Sven listened to Ostarion’s last words.

      Ostarion: Ughhh it seems the end is near.

      Yurnero: Your reign of terror finally ends. With your Ancient destroyed, the Realm of the Dead will now have nothing to sustain theselves now.

      Ostarion: Was it worth it though? I have destroyed a huge part of your kingdom and killed some of your friends.

      Sven: It was all worth it. For the sake of the future generations, we would gladly lay up our lives, even if it meant our entire race going to extinction.

      Yurnero: Our souls have finally been avenged. Yurnero has fulfilled his duties well. Today starts anew. We vow to bring back our people, and begin the rebirth of the Isle of Masks. We will bring glory to our friends… and death to our enemies.

Ostarion’s skeleton remains then started to lose their green ambient colors, and soon faded away into dust. The sky became clearer, and the stench of the dead fading away. What was left after the war however was ruin. The kingdom, then soon started to initiate repairs to what has been lost and bury the countless casualties they suffered. The heroes then soon found out that Tresdin has fallen in battle, and they bury her in the Tomb of Valor.

      Mars: It seems the bronze legion has lost their greatest general.

      Sven: It was an honor to fight by her side. Without her, this victory wouldn’t have been possible. She helped me back there at the bottom lane from Pugna and Abaddon. She told me to go ahead for she was supposed to aid you Jugg. I should’ve followed her and this wouldn’t have happened.

Yurnero’s pet dragon then went to Sven and rubbed him, as if wanting to comfort him.  

     Yurnero: Don’t blame yourself old friend. If you didn’t go ahead, you wouldn’t  have been there to help us in fighting Ostarion. Things would’ve ended badly for us, and we wouldn’t have awakened.

     Rubick: It’s all right. I feel her soul resting in peace now. I must now go and part ways with you people. Apparently, there are still a lot of things I must learn, and I am still far away from reaching my Father. Future perils likely await us. Expect to see me there. Farewell.

     Yurnero: Rubick. You weren’t so bad after all.

Rubick then waved his wand and casted a teleport spell, teleporting out from their sights.

      Mars: It was an honor to fight by your side heroes. I will remain here for the meantime to rally the Bronze Legion. The Ancient has taken significant damage, and I must remain here to protect it.

      Sven: The land itself will heal in time with the Ancient’s powers. Tresdin put her life on the line, knowing fully well that if she fall’s another will rise to take her place. But this… *pointing out towards the landscape* This can never be replaced.

      Yurnero: We will not forget the allies who laid down their lives for this. Io, Invoker, Kunkka, Tresdin, and the countless soldiers that died. None of it wouldn’t have been possible without them. At least for now, peace has been restored in this land, and our fallen kin can now rest peacefully knowing that they have been avenged, and we have secured a future for the generations to come.

Chapter Epilogue:

And thus, ended the tragedy of The Great Confluence. The heroes then decided to take a rest, watching over this land and to rebuild what they have lost. More dangerous perils will surely to come in the coming years of this unpredictable world. However, there will always be heroes who will stand up to valiantly fight for the sake of their land.

*The names of characters and places are inspired from Dota 2. All photos used belong to Valve and their respective creators and I do not own then in any way*

[richonnejustdesserts]

Teacher's Pet : A Richonne Round Robin Fanfic

A small town sheriff and preschool teacher find love thanks to the cutest little matchmaker around.  [RATED: T]

Chapter 1 (written by @birdnmouse​)

Rick glanced in the rear view mirror of his truck and grinned at the sight of his four year old daughter sitting in her car seat swinging her feet back and forth as she happily hummed along to the country song that was playing on the radio, one he was certain she didn’t know. She had insisted on changing out of the jeans and purple polka dot shirt she had worn to school that day, opting for a little light blue, ruffled seersucker sundress and some white sandals in honor of this special occasion instead.

“So is Miss A going to give you a good report or a bad report tonight?”

“Good,” she answered from the back seat before going back to humming along to the music as she looked out the window.

“Are you sure?” he goaded.

“I got all green lights this week,” she answered indignantly as she met his eyes in the mirror, furrowing her blonde little eyebrows and puffing out her chubby cheeks. She was telling the truth, then again it was only Tuesday. “I like her better than Mrs. Miller,” she declared.

“Because she gives you green lights?”

“Yes,” she answered honestly, causing him to crack a smile. “But also she’s nice. And pretty. And she reads stories better.”

“How does she do that?”

“She does the voices like you do,” she explained of his silly habit of putting on different voices for each of the characters in her bedtime stories.

It was their little thing, or so he thought. His stories always tickled her to no end, sending her into a fit of giggles as she nuzzled up closer to him while they sat in her bed which made it worth the extra effort for him.

“I see…do you like her stories better than mine?”

Much to his surprise, she actually cocked her little head to the side and pursed her lips as she pondered it.

“Yes,” she decided after a moment.

“Then I guess I should just quit…” he teased with a put upon frown and a mopey voice, although he had to admit that she had broken his heart just a little bit with that admission.

“No!”

“But you said hers are better…” he countered, laying it on a little thicker.

“Only sometimes,” she backtracked. “Don’t be sad, daddy,” she pleaded in a tender little voice.

“I’m not, sweetheart,” he assured her with a smile to prove it. “I was just teasin’ you. I’m glad  you like your new teacher.”

Just as he was pulling into the parking lot of his daughter’s preschool, his cell phone began to ring from its spot in the center console. He kept his eyes on the road, not wanting to glance down until he had finished parking, but his little helper was on it for him.

“It’s Mommy!” she announced upon spotting the picture of Lori, Carl, and herself that popped up on the screen. “Can I answer it?”

“Of course.”

Right after he threw the truck in park, he reached down and passed the phone back to her, turning to watch as she expertly handled the device and answered on speaker, holding it out in front of her face like a little adult.

“Hi Mommy.”

Her forehead scrunched as she was met with nothing but a loud barrage of indiscriminate background noises coming through the speaker. As it went on for a few more seconds, he assumed that she had just butt-dialed them, for lack of a better description.

“Lori?”

“Mommy?” Judith repeated.

“Baby?” she answered finally. “Is your dad there?”

“I’m here,” he called out.

“Hey! Do you hear that?” He wrinkled his forehead as the noises replaced her voice again for moment. “Carl hit a homerun!”

Rick and Judith began to cheer along with the crowd from the cab of his truck, and although he was thrilled for his son, he felt his heart break again for missing out on his first homerun.

Michonne stood at the front of the classroom, her palms feeling slightly clammy and her heartbeat starting to speed up just a bit. She always got a little nervous at these things which was silly considering she spent her days speaking in front of crowds. Her usual crowds were students that came just up to her hips, however, and tonight they were all accompanied by one of both of their adults. She was outnumbered by far. She rubbed her palms down the side of her dress, took a deep breath, and put on her best smile.

“Everyone, can I have your attention for just a moment?”

The buzz in the classroom died down quickly as the children and parents stopped their conversations and found places to settle down across the room; some against the walls, some along the shelves of cubby holes in the back, and some in the long rows of tiny desks that ran the width of the room.

“I just wanted to take a moment to welcome you all to the spring semester open house. My name is Michonne Anthony, but you may know me better as Miss A or The New Mrs. Miller,” she quipped, referring to recently retired, long-long time teacher she had just replaced.

Her joke, thankfully, earned some knowing laughter and chatter from the parents, some who only knew of her as the former through their children and some who were guilty of the latter themselves. In the midst of the laughter, her eyes were drawn to the center of the room where Judith Grimes was practically crawling out of her father’s lap as she waved excitedly at her. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight, and gave a small wave back as Judith’s father reigned her in and whispered something in her ear, likely to the effect of sit still and behave judging by the look on his face.

“Just a little about me, first,” she continued once the room quieted down again. “I have a background in art education, clearly,” she said gesturing to the walls that were completely covered in paintings and drawings, “and I’ve worked with just about every age group throughout my career, but I always enjoyed working with my youngest students the most which inspired me to go back to school for a degree in early childhood education.  After graduation, I taught at a Montessori school in Atlanta for a few years before taking this position.”

She continued to scan the room, trying to make eye contact with each and every person as she spoke, but her eyes kept landing on Judith Grimes’s father, and the way he was so endearingly crouched into his daughter’s tiny desk chair with her on his lap. He was by no means the youngest father of the bunch, but he was certainly the most handsome, distractingly so actually.

He was easily in his early forties judging by the deep creases that formed around his eyes every time he smiled at one of her attempts at humor and the ample amount of grey running through the scruff that covered the lower half of his face. He was dressed in a light blue plaid button down shirt and jeans like at least half of the men were, a standard casual dad look around these parts, but he wore his well so well on his lean frame.

“Getting to know your children over the past month has been an absolute pleasure,” she carried on, purposely forcing her eyes away from him, “and I’m looking forward to meeting each of you this evening. There are refreshments in the back and many projects hanging around the room that I’m sure your children are eager to show you. Please enjoy!”

As the chatter in the room started up again and the parents and children scattered to begin exploring the classroom, there was one voice that rose above the rest.

“Miss A!”

“Miss G!” she exclaimed at the sight of the pint-sized blonde making a beeline toward her.

“Did you see me waving?” Judith asked with breathless excitement as she came to a stop in front of her.

“I did. Didn’t you see me wave back?”

“Yes,” she answered sheepishly knowing full well that she had. “This is my daddy.”

“I thought that’s who this might be…” Michonne couldn’t help but smile at the obvious introduction, but then it was the polite thing to do. “Hi Mr. Grimes,” she said bringing her gaze to his face as she extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Rick,” he said as he shook her hand. “And it’s nice to meet you as well. My daughter is a big fan,” he joked, referring to her previous antics, which caused Michonne to chuckle.

The raspy, but warm southern drawl that had come from his smiling mouth caught her off guard. He was even more handsome up close, his blue eyes striking in their color and clarity, and his lean frame on full display as he stood before her, at least a head taller. Objectively speaking, Mr. Grimes was hot. And while it would be unprofessional to say so, she could at least allow herself to appreciate their interaction as a perk of the job.

“Well, I’m a big fan of hers,” Michonne said, making sure to keep her focus strictly business. “She’s very bright and curious, and brings such a wonderful energy to the classroom.”

The corner of Rick’s lips twisted into a lopsided grin at Miss A’s very kind take on what Mrs. Miller had previously referred to as Judith��s disruptive behavior. But then Miss A was not like Mrs. Miller. At all. She was younger than Mrs. Miller by at least a quarter of a century, and younger than him by at least a few years he figured. She was nice, as Judith had told him, and not in that cloyingly sweet way that some of his son’s teachers had been. And funny. And pretty. Though his daughter had missed the mark on that one because she was absolutely beautiful. There was a glow about her, especially when she smiled; the smooth, dark skin of her cheeks just seemed to radiate warmth. Her hair was twisted back into a loose bun at the base of her neck, and she wore a simple, flowing floor length black dress paired with a snug grey cardigan to cover her arms and shoulders. Her wrists were adorned with a thick collection of gold and brightly colored beaded bracelets, and gold metal earrings that were hammered into an ornate design dangled from her earlobes. She had an easy-going, yet elegant way about her which made her all the more intriguing and difficult to take his eyes off of.

“Miss A, do you want to know something?” Judith piped up, almost as if on cue, helping him do just that.

“Sure,” she answered

“When I told my daddy I like your stories better, he cried.”

Michonne bit down on her lips to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape them.

“I didn’t cry,” he scoffed uncomfortably, his cheeks warming slightly from embarrassment.

“I forgot to mention, she’s very good at sharing, too,” Michonne grinned.

“Yeah,” he huffed out at her gracious description of Judith’s talkative ways.

“I know that your son, Carl,” she inserted proudly to prove her point, “has a baseball game tonight, and he plays for a team called the King County Crushers which is why your wife couldn’t be here this evening.”

“My ex-wife,” Rick corrected casually as he chuckled at the level of detail his daughter had given her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize–”

“That’s OK,” he assured her as he waved it off.

She nodded with relief as she watched a grin form on his lips, one she imagined was meant to put her at ease. And it did, as she felt a warmth spread through her cheeks as she grinned back. They fell quiet for a moment as she allowed herself to steal another look at his handsome face, and she could have sworn he might have been doing the same to her.

“Carl hit a homerun tonight!”

The high little voice broke their gaze as they both looked down at her, with Michonne being thankful for the distraction.

“Way to go, Carl!” she said in return before glancing over her head to be reminded of the nineteen other sets of parents and children who also deserved her attention this evening. “Well, I should probably keep making the rounds. It was nice to finally meet you,” she said as she extended her hand out again.

“Likewise,” he nodded as he shook it in return.

She gave him a small grin as she pulled her hand from his then moved along to the next family. He watched her walk away, giving the same smile, introduction, and handshake to the next dad. He could have sworn he felt a little something between them, but maybe it was all in his head…

Thank you for coming…good night…thanks for coming…have a nice night.

She felt like a broken record as she stood at the door bidding the parents and their children good bye as they filed out of the classroom. The steady stream had slowed to a trickle as the last few stragglers made their way out.

“I’m not ready to go yet!”

She glanced back into the room to see Judith still sitting at her desk, refusing to move as her father leaned down beside her with a gentle hand on her back.

“You have to go to sleep so you can come back to school tomorrow,” he explained patiently.

“But I’m not tired,” she insisted.

“But I am,” Michonne said with a well-timed yawn as she walked toward them. “It’s been a long day, Judith. I need to get my rest, otherwise I’ll be too tired to come to school tomorrow…”

“No,” she said with alarm.

“…definitely too tired for story time or art class…” Michonne carried on.

“You have to go to sleep,” Judith instructed with great concern. “I will, too,” she promised.

“OK,” she nodded causing Judith to pop up from her chair.

While she was pushing it in under her desk like Miss A always reminded them to do, Michonne glanced over at Rick who was looking her way grinning. She gave him a knowing wink then began walking toward the door with them. When they arrived, Judith simply turned to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, giving her a hug good night. Michonne took a step back, caught of guard by the sweet gesture, then steadied herself and leaned down to wrap her arms around Judith’s back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Michonne said as she gave her a tight squeeze. Judith nodded then turned and grabbed her father’s hand.

“Have a good night,” she said quietly as she glanced up at Rick.

“You, too,” he nodded before his daughter tugged on his hand to get them going since she was completely on board with this sleep thing now.

As they walked to the car, Rick glanced down at his daughter, touched by how taken she was with her new teacher. She could be a handful, but it was clear there was a connection between the two of them.

He glanced back over his shoulder to see Miss A still standing in the door of her classroom, her silhouette backlit by the light coming from inside, watching them as they walked to their car. Upon meeting his eyes, she gave a shy smile then dipped her head and turned to walk back into the classroom. He reached into his back pocket and pulled his keys out, giving them a twirl around his finger as he smiled to himself. Maybe it wasn’t all in his head, after all…

[braindamageforbeginners]

Day 42 (I think), Radiation 29

Folks, when you come down with a disease, you’ll need a support structure. And you have to recognize that, just as you have your good and bad days, just as you grow and diminish with the disease; your friends and family will do that, too. Which means that, just you’re gonna go a little haywire once in a while, they will, too. You can’t hold it against them, living with a physical reminder of mortality is a hard thing. You just have to make sure the good days in that relationship outnumber the bad.

I bring this up, because I had an epiphany last night, thanks to dear old Dad. Now, full disclosure, my father is helping me out both financially and physically, so he probably qualifies for some form of sainthood, so, my apologies to everyone if it seems like I’m distorting him - that’s how art works, you make something three dimensional into a two-dimensional caricature. I’d do better if I could, that would require film, not text. For full context, we had a blood moon last night (more on that in a second), and Dad was excited to see it (he has even worse insomnia than me). He noted that it would 2038, before the next one, and got cross when I mentioned that really wasn’t anything I was planning on seeing.the next one. I didn’t do it in some mean or Robert Smith-esque way (I don’t have enough hair to be Robert Smith these days; I’m having a hard time pulling a Kenny Chesney these days, even with the considerable power of a Stetson). He’s mentioned that he’s betting this will be the last time I see this thing. And, Great Kraken knows, I’d be only too happy to see the last of this thing, too. Here’s the thing; When you saw the first trailers for the third “Transformers” movie - hideous as it all was - was anyone really dumb enough to doubt that there would be a fourth one? Because I have a stack of medical studies showing a rather alarming pattern for people like me.

Now, I’ll admit, I have great hopes for the Warlocks and Mad Scientist to keep me around for a while; but no doctor - since 2010 - has told me I’ll get the same sort of lump-sum 60 years as everyone else. I might get that much time, eventually, but it will be doled out over 6-18 month segments. Mad Scientist - who has been eerily accurate in her predictions - flat-out told me that the best she could do was keep me alive and mostly-intact between treatments. And the Warlocks, even though they’re gifted necromancers, have told me that this is a multi-year, total-focus investment before any sort of results can be guaranteed. In other words, although I might be able to eventually carve out some sort of life, planning on seeing the next blood moon is utterly ridiculous.

Now, full disclosure; right now, I’m not really upset or frightened or anything at the moment; I’m mostly just tired (when I have time to feel tired, anyway). I am Mark Watney in “The Martian” - so completely invested in surviving to next week that I don’t have time or energy to worry about the week after that (and, as I’ve mentioned, being a functioning sick person today is a full-time job)(and I am not exaggerating that). I solve a problem or two today. Then another one tomorrow. Then the next one. And I try to tell you guys how to solve them. Dad’s still worried about next year’s changes in health insurance policy (and I am too, or I would be, if I had time to stop and be worried). And this is all just a by-product revelation to the big one; and, in order to understand it, you have to understand, Dad loves plans - loves them - and loves linear progression. I’m not going to bash him for that; all human beings do; it’s a fundamental part of the species. We are exceedingly similar people; it’s just I had a few cells do a few more unexpected things happen than him. Which leads me to the major revelation of the piece, reader, and you won’t like it (my apologies). This whole time - since my initial diagnosis last July - I’ve had the nasty sensation that I’m the butt of some grotesque cosmic joke. I’m just the set-up, dear reader; you guys are the joke. Sort of. Follow me on this one.

Now, my existence is far, far more precarious than yours, but I’d argue that the real psychological difference between you and me - on a day-to-day basis - is that I’m just constantly hyper-aware of the degree to which our lives are governed by complete random chance. To understand the full implications here - because this is Kraken Planning 101 - I need you to go back and watch “Back to the Future” (whenever you’re having trouble understanding the universe, this is my go-to starting point, but it illustrates the point), and then - with that idea that linear causality isn’t often so linear - go back and make a list of the number of times your life changed - even moderately - because your alarm clock died. Or a date canceled. Or you didn’t have money to go out with your friends. There are entire lives you lived - or didn’t live - because the wind was blowing the wrong way. If you realized how much you were at the mercy of random chance, you’d curl up in bed and never leave.

And, in that sense, existence - or your existence - seems utterly ludicrous to me. My gods, you people. You talk to bill collectors. You hide your emotions from one another. You put up with loathsome characters you despise because they might offer you money. You don’t go to the gym. You buy dinner for pretty people you hate because they might kiss you. You worry about what your friends or neighbors will think. And you do all of this in a weird, vague hope of a future that will never come, not as you can comprehend it, anyway. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t plan ahead or cont on the future, but, as someone who’s already taken that bet and lost in the very worst way possible, trust me, it’s a sucker’s bet.

I’m not terribly happy right now, but I will say this - my life would’ve dramatically different if, 16 years ago, someone had told me, “Well, we zapped it this time, but it’s gonna come back in a couple of years. Go, now.” And if you start living your life in that time frame - without expecting to leave anything after a year or so - there is a strange sort of freedom that starts to enter your outlook. You don’t get the full human experience, necessarily, but, if you’re clever, you can get some concentrated ingots of it here and there. You can burn far brighter than you’d imagined possible. You don’t get to go to law school or plan a honeymoon, which sucks, but you get to focus on being the most concrete, focused, distilled version of you there is. And you will - I guarantee you - discover wild, amazing, scary things about yourself. Again, it’s not exactly an existence I’d wish upon anyone, but right now, I got three solid talents: I can figure things out very quickly, I am - historically-speaking - nigh-unkillable, and I can write exceptionally well. And that’s it. I’m placing all three of those on the Warlocks to win in the third race, and the crowd is cheering, and, yeah, there’s a solid chance I’ll lose that bet; but there is a weirdly exhilarating sensation to it all. And I have no idea how this will turn out, but I will write the shit out of every single thing that happens in the meantime.

And the writing. You guys have no idea, but you’re only just getting the very thinnest, smallest amount of output from me, because I have other stuff I have to do to stay healthy and solve day-to-day problems, but, this started as a sort-of hobby to help me work through it all. Now, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all down. And I’m still not getting all this down in a comprehensible form - this is, by my standards, extremely unpolished and weird. And there’s a chance nothing at all will come to this, but, I will say this, reader - and I’ve already expressed this sort of sentiment elsewhere - but there is a bizarre, hilarious, marvelous, stupid, crazy, frightening story inside of me, and I can’t wait to figure it out. And I’ve said it before, but you have one in you, too.

The one great unifying factor to all human expression is that it doesn’t really discriminate, and we can all do it, with a few basic classes. People like Georgia O’Keefe, or Dickens, or Michelangelo didn’t accomplish what they did because they were paid, or because they wanted to - they did because they couldn’t stop. When they saw what was inside of them - what’s inside every single human being on the planet, really - they had to find out how deep that well went. It sucks that I don’t get to plan and scheme like a normal person, I’ll admit it. And it sucks that there are probably entire segments of the human experience that won’t be available to me, but, at the same time, I have absolutely no doubt that, should those things become important, I’ll be able to figure them out. And yeah, if I die in the next year or so, it’ll suck - believe me, it’ll suck - but the greater tragedy of my life, in retrospect, is that it took me this long to know I’m capable of that. Maybe. We’ll see. In six months.

Oh, before I forget; I did get up at 4 am to see the Blood Moon. And at 5:30 am. That wasn’t terribly intentional, but I figured I’d finish up the Temodar in a special way. Hopefully I’ll sleep somewhat-normally tonight, although I’m still on radiation. The radiation side-effects are unpleasant, but I’ll miss seeing the radiation folks. That’s kind of an odd admission, considering that my life should improve (eventually, anyway) once I rotate out of that, but they’re all sweethearts, and it does kind of help to have a set of friendly, consistent faces who’ll take song requests. Still, I’ll be only too happy to see the end of that wretched mask; I’m considering blowing it up with some sort of illegal fireworks or something. I’m taking suggestions on that one.

ANYWAY... WEIGHT: 221 lb. CONCENTRATION: Decent. I’m still completing complex tasks and stuff, but, as you’ve seen in this piece, I’m a little distracted and somewhat scatter-shot. I’m not focused at the moment, but I’m also exhausted and I’ve been running around a lot. APPETITE: Excellent. ACTIVITY LEVEL: Great, considering I didn’t get much sl SLEEP QUALITY: Excellent, but I’m still not getting enough sleep. COORDINATION/DEXTERITY: Not bad. Left hand’s having a tough time at the moment, but I think that might be more a result of pulling something in my arm than any neurological problems. PHYSICAL: Not too bad. I still have a low-grade suture head-ache but nothing that can’t be overcome with lots of Tylenol. And no temodar hang-over this morning, because I was up all night downing water and watching the moon. SIDE EFFECTS: Nothing new in this area. I have all the same problems I did a week ago, for the most part, but, sometimes the best you can ask when you have a disease, is that things don’t get worse. I mean, I have greater ambitions than very-slowly sort of imploding, but the current situation seems more of a three-steps-forward-two-steps back than a major backslide. But I could be wrong; neurological degradation is subtle; I do keep these records as a way to verify symptoms or progress.

[royalsandcourtiers]

The final installment of Women of the Three Kingdoms. Or at least, the final installment until Koei announces new female characters for the series, or until I decide to share with you the stories of the women I discovered while researching this series. Here we look at the remaining women who have been fictionalised in the Dynasty Warriors series and their origins in fiction and history.

Lu Lingqi

First Appearance: Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends

In the games: The daughter of the mighty Lu Bu, Lu Lingqi, appears in her father’s historical route in the expanded edition of Dynasty Warriors 8. Unfortunately, because the writers weren’t sure how to write her interactions with Diao Chao (her father’s lover), Lu Lingqi only appears in the final third of Lu Bu’s story. When she does appear, she is courageous and an excellent fighter, but her father is reluctant to allow her onto the battlefield.

In fiction: In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Lu Bu’s unnamed daughter by his wife, Lady Yan, is used in a potential marriage alliance with the son of Yuan Shao. When trying to secure the marriage for the second time, having called it off a year previously, Lu Bu apparently wrapped his daughter in fabric, tied her to his horse and unsuccessfully attempted to deliver her personally to her prospective groom.

In history: As usual, little is known of Lu Bu’s daughter, other than her existence. Lu Bu and Yuan Shao did indeed negotiate a marriage between the former’s daughter and the latter’s son, Yuan Shu. However, after the bride had already been dispatched to her potential husband, Lu Bu was convinced that the alliance was a bad one, and so he recalled his daughter and killed Yuan Shu’s envoy. Despite this momentary conflict, Lu Bu found himself allying with Yuan Shu anyway, and a year later decided to renew the agreement, while also asking for military reinforcements. The reinforcements never arrived and Lu Bu was executed by the forces that surrounded him. It is not recorded what happened to Lu Bu’s family, but the families of other officials executed at the same time were well taken care of so it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to imagine the same would apply to Lady Yan and her daughter.

Cai Wenji

First Appearance: Dynasty Warriors 7

In the games: Oh boy. I mean Cai Wenji is such a pivotal part of the games it’s difficult to condense her role into a short paragraph. She’s a poet, she uses a harp as a weapon, and she fights for the Wei kingdom. She certainly doesn’t disappear the minute she’s introduced as a character. She’s playable in at least one stage, spread over the games in which she appears. No really, one!

In fiction: Because of her interesting, albeit tragic, life story, Cai Wenji has featured throughout the arts in the history of China. She features as the subject of plays, operas and a great deal of artwork, much of which focuses on her time living beyond China, and the circumstances of her return. She also appears in Koei’s Kessen II, this time as Cai Wengi; Queen of Fu. Here she is a sorceress who joins Liu Bei after he defeats her, despite her initial antagonism.

In history: If there’s one thing that’s common for the women of the Three Kingdoms, it’s that much of their story is fictionalised because of a lack of information about them. In the case of Cai Wenji, however, there is a surprising amount known of her, very little of which translates into her minimal appearances in the series.

The daughter of a prestigious Han scholar, Cai Yan (as she was born) was well educated for a woman of the time. In her youth, her father’s enemies at court conspired to have him exiled, but he would be invited to return when Dong Zhou rose to power. Cai Yong accepted a position (reluctantly and only after Dong Zhou threatened to wipe out his family) and so Cai Yan would find herself back at the capital.

The year Dong Zhou was removed from power, as well as the mortal plane, would be an eventful one for Cai Wenji, but not in a good way. Although the tyrant had been overthrown, her father would be imprisoned (where he would die) for his apparent support of Dong Zhou, and her husband of a short time died around this time. A couple of years later, with China well and truly in the grip of chaos, men from a nomadic tribe made incursions into Han territory, and during a raid, abducted Cai Wenji. As a prisoner in the north, Cai Wenji was forced into marriage with a chieftain, a union which produced two children. She remained in this miserable position for twelve years before Cao Cao secured her freedom, after convincing the government they should pay out for the ransom because her ancestors were totally on his case about it.

Cai Wenji was returned, though she left her sons with their father. As an admirer of her father, and a talented poet in his own right, Cao Cao took an especial interest in Cai Wenji and her re-settlement in familiar lands. He arranged her marriage with a government official from her hometown and worked with her to restore those volumes of her father’s that had been lost to the war. Aside from an incident where she convinced Cao Cao to spare her husband after he had committed treason, nothing more is recorded of her life.

A selection of images from Chinese history titled Cai Wenji returns to her homeland.

  Wang Yi

First Appearance: Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends

In the games: A capable fighter and a competent strategist, Wang Yi’s character is dominated by her desire for revenge on Shu’s Ma Chao. While her motivation is pure anger, she is not hot-tempered or reckless. Instead, she’s cold, calculated and patient as a result. I’d say she’s one of the few female characters whose presence isn’t dominated by her relationship with a man…but that’s patently untrue, given how obsessed she is with Ma Chao. But she is at least no man’s woman, and she has many a moment where she acts beyond the need for revenge if it helps her strategy.

In fiction: Wang Yi appears briefly in Romance of the Three Kingdoms as Lady Wang. Her husband, Zhao Ang, hesitates to revolt against Ma Chao because he is holding their son hostage. Lady Wang berates him and threatens her own life if he does not act. Later, she is the sole survivor of her family (except her husband) who are killed in a massacre by Ma Chao.

In history: The Three Kingdoms period is so popular because of the sheer amount of people who met the extraordinary circumstances they found themselves in, head on and persevered. Wang Yi is definitely one such person.

The wife of an official, Zhao Ang, Wang Yi would surely have been little more than a wife and mother to their four children, had events not overtaken them. While Zhao Ang was away, Liang Shuang revolted and conquered the district; two of Wang Yi’s sons were killed in the skirmish. Fearing that Liang Shuang would take her as a prize, and all that entailed, she attempted to kill herself, stopping when she saw her young daughter. Still fearful of rape at the hand of Liang Shuang, or his soldiers, Wang Yi took measures to protect herself and her daughter, and though accounts vary when describing her methods, they are always extreme. She was thought to have fasted to the point of making herself dangerously thin so that she would appear unattractive, and/or she covered herself and her daughter in human excrement so that people would stay away from them. After living like this for a year, Liang Shuang surrendered and Wang Yi and her daughter were returned to her husband, who had had no news of them since their home had fallen. Once they were within a safe distance of her husband, Wang Yi told her daughter that she had lived only to protect her, now that they were safe again, there was no reason for her to continue, and so she attempted again to kill herself. This time she ingested poison, but her daughter got help quick enough for an antidote to be administered, although the recovery period was long.

The family relocated to Jicheng, where they lived peacefully for some years. When Ma Chao led a rebellion against Cao Cao, however, he laid siege to the city, and once again Wang Yi rose to the occasion. The siege lasted eight months, during which time, Wang Yi herself engaged in the fighting, using archery skills to engage Ma Chao’s soldiers. Although they were outnumbered ten to one, the people of Jicheng held the city, until it appeared that reinforcements were not coming, and Ma Chao executed a prominent member of the Jicheng administration.

With the city in his hands, Ma Chao took Wang Yi’s surviving son as a hostage, while Wang Yi herself befriended Ma Chao’s wife, in order to make it appear that her family was loyal. Between her efforts and her husband’s attempts to ingratiate himself with Ma Chao, the two survived under enemy occupation and were able to plot against their captors. When Zhao Ang expressed concern for their son’s life, should their plot be discovered, Wang Yi rebuked him saying that as they were willing to risk their own lives, why should they hesitate over their son’s? The plot was successful, Ma Chao was driven out, and they continued to hold him off until Cao Cao’s reinforcements arrived. During this time, Wang Yi actively participated in battles against Ma Chao, but after his final retreat, he did indeed execute their son.

Zhang Chunhua

First appearance: Dynasty Warriors 8

In the games: The wife of Sima Yi, and the mother of his children (who also appear in the games), Zhang Chunhua is calm, collected and capable. Her family respects her yet border on fearful of her, but in the way children are afraid of invoking their parents’ wrath. She supports her husband and her sons but also acts as an adviser and, where appropriate, strategist. Her intelligence and devotion to her family are her key features, in a series where the women are almost exclusively discussed in-game, in terms of their appearance.

In fiction: A lot of information about Zhang Chunhua’s life comes from sources written after her children had established the Jin Dynasty, and so as a result, may not be entirely based in fact. One story in particular which may not have actually happened, saw a thirteen year old Zhang Chunhua murdering the family maid when the maid saw that Sima Yi was not as ill as he had told Cao Cao he was. Fearing the maid would let slip the deception, Zhang Chunhua either strangled or poisoned her and took on the maid’s duties herself.

In history: Zhang Chunhua belonged to a minor family of officials, but even in her youth was noted for her upright moral character and her intelligence. She married Sima Yi, who would become a prominent politician under Cao Cao and whose success would allow his grandson to found the Jin Dynasty, ending the Three Kingdoms period. In their later life together, Sima Yi was thought to favour his concubine and neglected Zhang Chunhua as a result. After he rebuked her for her looks, Zhang Chunhua allegedly attempted to starve herself, prompting her children to do the same. Sima Yi was reconciled to her but later said he only did so for the sake of his sons.

The story contradicts their apparent respect for each other, and the year Sima Yi retired from public life coincided with the year his wife fell ill and died.

Bao Sanniang

First appearance: Dynasty Warriors 7

In the games: Time for some full disclosure. If it weren’t for the fact that I’d committed to look at all the women in the series, and I’m a sucker for completionism, Bao Sanniang would not appear here. In the games, her entire personality is based on two things: Cats and Guan Suo. The picture above is taken from her special attack, and yes, you see right, she is on the floor pretending to be a cat. Cats are just one of her obsessions, the other being Guan Suo, with whom she is freakishly obsessed. The relationship is wholly one-sided on her part, so it’s unclear if they’re actually romantically involved. Needless to say every other word out of her mouth is about Guan Suo and how she is committed to his side…seemingly regardless of his feelings on the matter. Worryingly the producers added her to be an assertive, independent female character…which makes me wonder if they know what either of those two words means.

In fiction: Bao Sanniang features in numerous operas and plays, mostly inspired by her presence in the fictional work Biography of Hua Guan Suo. Here she is a daughter of a bandit leader and the greatest warrior of her family. When Guan Suo hears of her, he decides to challenge her for the right to marry her, something he does after defeating all the male members of her family first. She then accompanies him on some of his campaigns, often joining the fight alongside him.

In history: She didn’t exist. Like, not even a little bit. At this point I’d surely look to Guan Suo and see if any of his wives or concubines were weirdly obsessed with him to form as the basis of her character, but as he exists only in fiction as well, we can rest easy that no real woman’s memory is being perpetuated as a cat lover acting out her own personal Fatal Attraction.

    Women of the Three Kingdoms Pt III The final installment of Women of the Three Kingdoms. Or at least, the final installment until Koei announces new female characters for the series, or until I decide to share with you the stories of the women I discovered while researching this series.

[lionwithouthonour-blog]

Meta prompt -- what exactly was going through Jaime's mind during the Loot Train Battle?

Okay, I have to admit I almost had to look up which was the Loot Train Battle because I’ve got so used to everyone just calling it the Field of Fire 2.0...

That aside, this is going to get really long (like really long; I can write an essay on this), and there’s almost definitely gonna be some stuff that could potentially be seen as ‘anti-Dany’ so...I’m just warning you so you can’t get mad and say I didn’t.

I think one thing that’s important to remember about this particular battle (and ironically one thing practically everyone tends to forget) is that it’s one that Jaime never saw coming. As far as he was concerned - hell, as far as any of them were concerned - all the fighting was done once they’d taken Highgarden. Just before the battle seems set to begin, he’s told that the gold has safely entered King’s Landing, which if anyone was going to attack them, surely the gold would be the target and not a few wagons of food. All Jaime’s got to worry about now is getting said wagons of food and the last of the Lannister/Tarly forces back into the city and they’re home and dry. And also it’s probably important to note his attitude towards the soldiers as demonstrated early in the scene: Lord Tarly says that flogging them will make them move into the city faster, Jaime tells him not to. Why is this detail important? Because it shows that on some level, Jaime cares about these men. Lord Tarly demonstrates the attitude of caring about them as a commander to an army, Jaime demonstrates the attitude of caring about them as people. People who have probably already spent a long amount of time marching at a forced pace and who probably haven’t had much time for resting or eating or anything else - again, they want to just get everything back to the city. And that’s another important detail to remember.

Now, when the Dothraki appear, they’re forced to fight a battle that nobody was expecting to come, on a terrain that’s the worst possible kind for facing that particular enemy, and against an enemy that probably none of them have ever faced the likes of before. And that’s even before the dragon shows up. Generally speaking, the tail end of a train of soldiers would not be so heavily armed or defensible - all the best soldiers would have been with the gold up ahead and now safely in King’s Landing. Realistically speaking, at least one of the main four (Jaime, Bronn, Lord Tarly and Dickon), probably two at minimum, would have been somewhere up at the front of the train, but dramatic license blahdeblah moving on. Now, they find themselves essentially cornered on an open field (and just FYI, I’m getting tired of people using Robert’s line of “only a fool would face the Dothraki on an open field” to mock Jaime in this moment; like what the fuck else was he supposed to do..?), and about to do battle when they’re clearly outnumbered and probably quite sapped for strength anyway. Still, Jaime refuses to leave them even when Bronn practically orders him to. His “we can hold them off” is, in my opinion at least, a direct response to what Bronn is saying which basically amounts to “everyone here is gonna die in a sec and if you stay then you’ll die too”. They’re both right by the line of Lannister soldiers when Bronn says that and in battle, that kind of attitude is one of the worst that you can have. It’s like in LotR at Helm’s Deep when Legolas starts going off on one about how hopeless the odds are (though granted he does it in Elvish, at least) - it’s just something you shouldn’t say even if you totally believe it and especially not where others can probably hear you. Even if Drogon wasn’t the master of Ironic Dramatic Timing, the argument would probably have ended there. It was less about the words being said than just trying to get Bronn to shut up.

And then the dragon appears...and this is where the potential anti-Dany stuff is gonna start showing so...heads up. First, I would just like to casually remind everyone that no one on the Lannister side has ever seen a dragon before. Oh sure, Jaime’s seen the skulls and maybe even Bronn has too, but this is something totally different. It would be the same as if you suddenly came face-to-face with a living breathing and intent on killing you T-Rex. And while they’re somewhat prepared for it with the Scorpion, again, huge difference between dead skull and living dragon. And that gets shown in all its logic-bomb glory. Second, this isn’t like when Tyrion first saw them, or Jon first saw them. Jaime is facing Drogon knowing full well that he’s going to be used as a weapon against them. This isn’t just a probability like it was for the other two, this is a certainty. And using a dragon in a swords-and-arrows battle like this would pretty much be the equivalent of using modern-day bombing techniques in a swords-and-arrows battle. While they stood little chance of success against the Dothraki, against Drogon alone they stand no chance and against Drogon and the Dothraki, Jaime knows they are going to be obliterated.

Now, from a technical side of things, I would like to point out that the battle is filmed almost utterly entirely from the Lannister army’s point of view, particularly  focusing on Jaime and Bronn. This is the first time we’ve seen a full-scale dragon attack from anyone else’s point of view other than Daenerys’. You know how a lot of people felt more uncomfortable watching this battle in particular than they normally did during dragon attacks? This is the reason why. Instead of the destruction being shown as a wonderful thing and utterly 100% deserved, this showed the destruction as the destruction it really is: men screaming and turning to ash, throwing themselves in the water to drown to try and put out the flames (seriously, the original final shot of the episode was meant to be Jaime seeing his men drowning), sheer and utter terror and chaos everywhere. Also, that scene with the Lannister soldiers and Arya in the woods that everyone just dismissed as a cameo for Ed Sheeren? Well, I’m not gonna argue about that, but I would argue that that scene was a direct prelude to this one. Whether you realised it or not at the time, it humanised the Lannister army, it made it clear that these were not necessarily men who agreed with Cersei or even completely wanted to be there. These were men like any other, who had lives and families and for whom being a soldier was just a job. To everyone who argues that the soldiers were fine to be killed simply by virtue of being a soldier, I repeat: these people had no knowledge on how to fight a fucking dragon! They didn’t sign up to fight a fucking dragon! Most of them probably didn’t even sign up, they were likely conscripted. The logic of that would basically be the same as saying “Oh, you took martial arts courses? You must know how to defuse a bomb!” Also, again I repeat, the best soldiers would have been with the gold up at the front of the train. Jaime, Bronn and (to a lesser extent) Tyrion are the POV characters in this battle and none of them feel good about what’s happening. We as an audience are not meant to be feeling good about what’s happening. Of course, purely choosing a POV won’t control how every single person watching feels because obviously if you like Dany more than you like any of the three POV characters, you’re gonna think this is the best thing since sliced bread no matter how it’s presented. But from a meta side of things, from the set-up, to the acting, to the directing, to just how the thing is filmed, there is a very deliberate attempt to make the audience uncomfortable at the very least with this whole situation.

Going specifically back to Jaime, the next key moment I wanna talk about is the moment he sends Bronn off to the Scorpion rather than going himself. Now, I’ve made jokes about this too, that Jaime is just using his hand as an excuse to get Bronn to do something for him (see pretty much the entire journey to find Myrcella in Dorne). Do I actually think this is his intention in this moment? No. He’s being 100% serious. By this point, chaos has taken over the battle. Drogon is burning stuff left right and centre, the Dothraki have broken through the Lannister lines, their men are being absolutely slaughtered. Jaime’s always demonstrated the desire for ending battles and wars quickly and with minimum damage. Drogon needs to be brought down and fast if they’re going to stand even the slightest chance of getting through this. Jaime is stating an absolute fact that he can’t operate the Scorpion with one hand and certainly not with the degree of skill needed to bring Drogon down. Bronn is literally the only realistic option in that moment.

Finally, because I know this is getting ridiculously long (and I want to congratulate you if you’ve read this far), I’m gonna talk about that last little bit. When Jaime’s looking around at all the men dead and dying and on fire and screaming, I am 100% certain that he’s connecting what he’s seeing in that moment to all the times he had to watch people burning with wildfire in the Mad King’s court. There’s a gifset on here that I’ve reblogged that has this scene with his confession to Brienne (’”Burn them all” he kept saying. “Burn them all”’). I personally have a headcanon (that may or may not be confirmed, honestly I haven’t done enough bts research to know) that Jaime suffers from some sort of repressed trauma from everything he saw and experienced in his time as a Kingsguard to Aerys, and if he does then the sight/sound of people being burned alive would almost certainly be a trigger to it (in the true sense of the term). And it really does look like he’s having some kind of traumatic episode in that moment. Then he sees Dany with the now-downed Drogon, and I honestly think he means what he says to Bronn in the next episode - when he sees her and sees that spear, he thinks he’s found a way to stop the war and more importantly, stop more instances of this. He would have been told the stories of the original Field of Fire, and he has his own experience with the Mad King to draw on. In that moment, Daenerys isn’t the “breaker of chains” or anything good, at least not to Jaime; she’s just exactly what Cersei’s always described her to be - a foreign conqueror who is willing to destroy Westeros if it only means she can rule it (which is one of the reasons pretty much everyone advised her against this action in the first place). And more importantly, she is the Mad King’s daughter, with all the implications of that. He killed Aerys to stop thousands of people burning - and for over 20 years his life has been defined by that act whether for good or not; why would he do anything different here if he has the chance? Jaime literally has nothing else to draw on to decide what kind of person she is besides what he’s seen in this battle, and he sees her at her absolute worst. And it’s a well-established part of his character that he tends to act before he thinks and this is a highly stressful situation where thinking isn’t really much of an option anyway. Of course he’s going to take the chance to try and kill her and, by proxy, stop all the damage that he’s seeing in that moment she’s capable of causing.

So I have a lot of feelings on this scene (and the aftermath in the next episode as well). To everyone/anyone that actually read this whole thing, feel free to agree or disagree as you wish and well done for actually reading the whole thing in the first place (told you I could write an essay on this).

[xb-squaredx]

2016 Indie Game Highlights

2016 was a lax year for me as far as playing new releases is concerned. I HAVE been playing games quite a bit, but admittedly a lot of old standbys (your Mario Karts, your Smash Bros. and so on) Nintendo in general was much more conservative with releases this year, though arguably less so for 3DS. With the Switch on the horizon, the Wii U didn’t have much to offer for most of the summer and even into the end of 2016, but there were quite a few indie games that helped fill that void. So, I’d like to go over the bulk of ones I played throughout the end of 2016, back-to-back. Consider this a bundle of mini-reviews, the PERFECT way to kick off 2017, right?!

From the developers behind Guacamelee!, we now have Severed. Playing as a young warrior named Sasha, who finds herself trapped in a strange, monstrous world, players are tasked with finding her family…as well as tracking down her recently severed arm which seems to have taken on a life of its own. The game takes place entirely in first-person, navigating various dungeons, for lack of a better word, broken up by fights with enemies in fixed encounters. Taking up the sword, given to her by a strange being, Sasha slashes at foes, players guiding her blade on the touch screen. Swiping the screen with your stylus, Sasha can perform long, strong slashes or many weaker, quicker slashes. As the game goes on she gains more tools to help in battle, and the enemies she encounters begin rushing you more often. Often times combat has Sasha vastly outnumbered, and it will take some multitasking skills to survive certain encounters. From parrying attacks to targeting various weak spots, combat is frantic, and while overwhelming at first, eventually things gel together well.

While combat is the meatiest part of the game, the exploration segments are decently paced. Sasha solves simple puzzles, navigates some light mazes and as the game goes on, uncovers a variety of secrets and power-ups. If players can build up a combo gauge, they enter into “Severed Mode” and if they kill enemies in this state you can slash off parts of enemies to use as fodder for upgrading skills.

Boasting a colorful style that still happens to be incredibly disturbing at times, and gameplay that’s smooth and polished, Severed was a blast to play. Like Guacamelee, it’s not terribly long, and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome; dare I say, it’s nearly perfectly paced.

Ninja Pizza Girl…is a weird game, if the title of it didn’t give that away. Playing as a young girl working for her father’s pizza shop, players have to hop rooftops and avoid other enemy ninjas to make her deliveries before they get cold. A game based on speedrunning the levels over and over, there are plenty of alternate paths to take to shave an extra second off the clock. Enemy encounters are brief; either slide past them or do a dive kick to jump off their head and keep moving. In some respects, it’s almost like a 2D Mirror’s Edge, though it isn’t nearly as polished.

To be fair, the game is made by a small team from what I hear, a moderately successful Kickstarter title. The game is full of good ideas, but just lacks a bit of polish here and there. It still feels good enough to run and jump, and I come away from it with a mostly positive impression. However, it has an issue with visibility. Each level starts out very gray and with colors washed out, only to get more colorful as you gain speed. Eventually you hit full speed and color bursts into the level, alongside some…uh…dubstep. The problem is that until that color kicks in, it is very hard to see obstacles and enemies. You’re running through black and gray rooftops, avoiding trip hazards and enemies dressed in black and it can get rough. Especially when you lose all color again if you slow down at all.

The game has an anti-bulling message to it, as the ninjas your character faces off against constantly talk down to her. Her self-confidence is both a story point and works into the gameplay; the grayness I complain about seems to be a representation of her current state of mind. Slowing down and messing up causes her self-esteem to plummet, while doing well and keeping the speed up has her happy and her outlook literally brightens. I appreciate the attempt, but it all comes across as very cheesy. And that wasn’t a pizza pun, either! Either way, it’s fun for what it is, but don’t go expecting this to be the smoothest game in the world.

An action platformer with a focus on getting some serious coin, Olympia Rising has you playing as a warrior attempting to get out of the underworld, bribing her way through with coins she gains as she travels through stages. Each stage has a different amount of coins to collect, and if you die in your attempt, all coins are expunged and you have to try again from scratch. Coins litter levels, and killing enemies gets you more coins, so you must balance exploration and combat. The game can be tough at times, especially in stages when you have to race to the end before the stage fills up with a deadly acidic liquid.

As far as overall feel goes, the game feels very nice to play. You have a double jump, a sword slash, some magic attacks and that’s it. As far as more advanced techniques go, the game has a coin combo counter of sorts, where killing enemies in quick succession has their coin payout double with each kill. Playing efficiently nets you tons of excess coins, with the remainder carrying over into the next level, and it does feel good to chain in kills, as it even restores both of your jumps in the air. On the whole, I can’t deny the game is fun.

However…there are quite a few levels that simply don’t run well. Levels where the framerate chugs here and there that really hurts the experience. There are some random glitches at times that get annoying; coins that I can’t actually pick up, or times when the game just won’t let me move to the left or right for some reason. The most annoying aspect for me is that coins gained from enemy kills don’t instantly get absorbed into you, orbiting around you slowly and taking forever to actually be absorbed into your character and be counted as collected. A small thing that gets REALLY annoying when your game is based around coin collection. I had fun with the thing, but these issues kinda bring it down for me. It’s hard too, so take that into account.

A sequel to a game I never played, Noitu Love: Devolution is an interesting side-scrolling beat’em up. Packed with charm in its pixel art and overall presentation, the main hook here is that the game is almost entirely touch controlled. You tap enemies repeatedly to beat on them, and tap to other enemies to instantly dash over to them. While you can still move and jump with buttons, you’ll be using the touch screen more often than not. You can charge up a variety of special moves by pressing down on the touch screen and then letting go, and even erect a shield near you to deal with enemies.

As fun as the game can be, I did find it a bit uncomfortable to play, and I’ve played a TON of Kid Icarus: Uprising in my day, so I know what I’m talking about! Constantly having to tap while holding the Wii U Game Pad in my hands wasn’t working out, and even trying to hold it in my lap didn’t work too well. It’s about the only flaw I have with the game, as otherwise it’s fun enough and not too expensive. The game is also out on 3DS, so that might be a more comfortable option for people, but I can’t vouch for it personally.

Jotun stars a Viking warrior who must defeat the Gods in combat if she is to be able to rest in Valhalla. An action game with a top-down view, you face off against gigantic deities in-between light exploration and puzzle solving. You must track down mystic runes in several levels before facing off against the Gods, but it is wise to search every level top to bottom. Hidden in each stage are health power-ups and God statues that will endow you with spells to be used in your battles.

The game is notable for its hand-drawn animation, every enemy moving fluidly frame-by-frame, with pretty backgrounds that are well illustrated, even if they don’t animate much. There’s not much going on with the combat aside from the spells, just a strong overhead swing of your mighty axe and then a simple, quicker slash. The game’s presentation is strong, some booming music accompanying the boss fights, as well as narration from the main character in Nordic that really makes it feel like you’re playing an old folk tale out…however the game is let down somewhat by constantly screwing with the ability to perceive your character. The Gods are so huge the camera must zoom far out during battle, and you’re barely a spec on the map as a result. Several of the fights are designed to make you lose track of your character; the God summons minions that swarm you, or a blizzard appears to totally white things out and so on. I didn’t’ find myself enjoying the battles when the game had to stoop to resorting to such tactics again and again, and ultimately I found the combat a little dull. You deal very little damage most of the time and move slow, often having to chase the bosses down. As a result, the pacing is a tad dull, but it’s still neat to check out for it’s presentation alone. The “Valhalla Edition” adds a challenging boss rush mood, too.

I’ll end this here with a game I’m still playing, but it’s shaping up to be great. From Image and Form, we have a spiritual sequel…of sorts, to Steamworld Dig. Steamworld Heist has the same steampunk aesthetic, robotic cast and rusty charm they built up with the last game. While Dig was a mild metroidvania game about digging underground to find swag, Heist is a side-scrolling tactical game, kinda like X-Com in 2D. Stages are procedurally generated, and you’ll have to make each move count. Each character you control has unique skills that can be used in battle, and a variety of guns you can swap out.

While the game’s just gotten started, it does seem to have a lot of depth to be revealed later. Headshots are an option, and shots to legs can stun enemies. Shots can also ricochet off of walls and ceilings, so if you want to get fancy, that’s an option! Note the “heist” in the title though; combat isn’t always required or encouraged, but you’ll ALWAYS want to get some swag and then get out of Dodge! Looks to have real potential, and if you like tactical games, give this one a shot!

 Indies injected some much needed love into the Wii U this summer, and I hope anyone reading this might get tipped off to some interesting games they might not have tried! You can probably tell, but this post is a bit later than it should be….considering most of these hit the Wii U in late summer and it’s already winter….and 2017 as of today, but it’s not too late to give them a chance!

Until next time!

-B

[comebeonetwothree]

Blog #2: Deleting States

06/01/2021

Greetings from the south of bumble fuck. Currently, we are driving through farmlands longer than the naked eye could see.

Driving into Washington D.C., you can feel the power of the city oozing through the beloved Brads and Chads.

From D.C. we drove directly into Tennessee which was a five hour stretch of flat land. We were greeted by an army of confederate flags right off of the state boarder line. I guess they did not get the memo that it is the 21st century. However, this makes sense since they all still have their Trump 2020 flags flying.

From Tennessee we landed in the lovely Little Rock Arkansas, where the human population is outnumbered by cows alone.

Now we’re in Amarillo, Texas for the night on our way to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a three-day rest from driving.

Throughout the last week, I can’t say much self-discovery was made (other than Nashville taking a serious toll off my life). Fresh out of a two-month bender due to college coming to an end, and I still can’t wrap my head around the amount of alcohol consumption that takes place in a day alone there.

The Who’s, the What’s, the Where’s, the When’s and the How’s are all very different from life in New York, I am still trying to figure out if this is a good thing or not.

Who

Who do you think you are…?

In D.C. that is just the question everyone is asking themselves. If you are not walking around in business casual, you’re a tourist.

Brads and Chads swarm the streets, and I say that in a literal sense…

Story Time: Mary, Maya and I had reached ‘E’ on our energy levels after seeing some amazing monuments in the heart of D.C. Anyway, we stopped at the closest bar and grill we could find for a beer and some appetizers… little did we know those don’t exist in D.C. and we ended up in this high-class cigar lounge that advertised themselves as an American Tavern. Inside we had the pleasure of eavesdropping on a conversation Chad was having with the waitress. His buddy Tyler, a regular there, was name dropped five times in a 3-minute conversation about how he took home some banging hot girls’ from there the week before. Naturally, he came back to host a business meeting there with some major clients, ordering the finest cigars and drinks for the table. Some business meeting I’d say. It’s too bad we didn’t stay long enough to see how that night turned out…

The people and the city know the power they hold, considering they live in the capital of the country. How ironic that the capital was our first stop.

It is hard to know what the city was like before this past year, but they incorporated a lot of great Black Lives Matter art throughout, including a massive mural on the street in front of the White House as well as a street named after the movement.

It was a tough pill to swallow still seeing a majority of homeless men being colored. A heartwarming interaction happened while walking through the park where majority of the homeless slept. There was a white man handing out care packages to them filled with water bottles, sandwiches and granola bars. He was able to hand out multiple to each person in the park.

The culture shock was extremely different heading from D.C. to Nashville. Both cities, have polar opposite intensions.

Nashville was filled with 99% of tourists that were there for the weekend or had already overstayed their welcome. Even our receptionist was from Westchester, New York.

We got to meet some really cool people and some great bands. We even became weekend groupies for two bands and ended up bar hopping with them.

Our new friends, Gabby and Autumn, showed us a great local experience. They were residents of Nashville; however, Autumn was born in Colorado and Gabby was from Portland. They took us to some other great bars that night, and we got to pick their brains on the cool spots to see in their hometowns, since we will be stopping there later on in trip.

Sweet Leah Music, was the best band to be groupies for this weekend. Being that we were the only non-country music fans in Nashville, this band blessed us with their southern rock and roll vibe. Playing by request, we were able to live our best lives through their amazing soulful sounds. With drinks in all their hands throughout their set, we were blessed with their hilarious and relatable toasts. My favorite: “This one is for the ladies. They love us in leather, they love us in lace, but they love us best when we sit on their face!”

What

What happened last night…

Hitting two large cities and two small layover cities, we got to see a lot about each place through museums and bars.

D.C. was filled with history on history, presented in some of the most beautiful ways. Our founding fathers and all those big guys walked those streets. You can’t really miss it either. Each road is named after a president or an iconic moment in history (just in case you missed the massive landmarks).

Nashville being the music central, was filled with great museums and of course the most insane bars with live music and voices of angels.

The Musicians Hall of Fame Museum was an interactive experience for all ages to enjoy. We were able to make beats and play with all these dope instruments.

The Johnny Cash Museum was filled with his memorabilia down to his report cards from grade school. I never knew anything about this man, and now I could tell you his favorite color. It really was a well-stocked museum.

The bars held my heart, besides the hole they burned in my pockets. They don’t warn you about the toll this place takes on your mental and physical well-being. Mentally, I hit an all-time high, overdosing on serotonin while head banging to every song I knew.

Oh, and did I mention I rode the bull… no bullshit! I full-on rode the fuck out of a mechanical bull in a karaoke bar. That killed my physical being… four days later and it still feelings like I got gangbanged by Shrek and his posse.

In Little Rock, Arkansas we had the pleasure of attending the most depressing zoo ever. We only stayed a night there and left the following morning for Amarillo, TX, but thought it would be nice to see something signifying during our short layover. With all museums being closed because of the “four-day weekend”, the zoo was the only thing open. We got there just in time for the monkey show!! The lovely chimpanzees gave us front row entertainment to their 69ing!! Full X-rated animal porn, even got to see some fingers in buttholes.  

To make the trip in Arkansas even more complimentary, we had the best welcoming gift! A giant pile of vomit in front of the restaurant we ate at… shoutout to the random man that screamed watch out two inches before I stepped in it. Needless to say, we still ate there… 4/10 would recommend to a friend. The vomit and ambulance sitting out front really gave it this phenomenal aesthetic!

Where

Where’s our car dude…

The City of D.C. is filled with great architecture and beautiful monuments. The World War II monument was a full body experience, views at every angle you turn your head.

The White House on the other hand is extremely overrated, I had to pull out a $20 bill to make sure I was staring at the correct white building.

Nashville is the other capital we were lucky enough to see, the capital of binge drinking.

Sitting downtown for the first time, I acquired lockjaw from the insanity that just casually strolled down the block.

Party bus after party bus… each getting more outrageous than the next. First was the peddle yourself bar on wheels, then came your classic roofless school bus with a nice amp and a small bar in the back of the bus. Then came your large tractor carrying a large wagon of drunks, I thought I had seen it all. Lastly, the ultimate party bus then approached us; a massive roofless party bus with smoke machines, disco lights and three large amps blasting music louder than the bars. Oh, but wait there is more… Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, a bus with a hot tub come strolling down the street, bitches in bikinis… what in the world.

This was the land of drunk people on buses screaming at the other drunk people that were landbound.

When

When does the bar close….

This was the most driving we will be doing, deleting states like it’s our business.

A whopping seven days ago we were in New York, now we out here in New Mexico.

What’s next to come is the long stays? Hiking camping and so much more :)

Why

Why the face…

Still not sure, there was not much time for “self-discovering” between getting plastered at bars and driving hours on end to conquer this mother fucking country.

The worst part is I had some crazy revelation last night but was too exhausted to get up and write it down and now it’s gone. Like Maya says, “If it was good enough it’ll come back,” let’s hope I haven’t completely smoked out my brain and I can come to it again.  

I would have to say I would go back to Nashville again but with my posse, there is a great number of things to do with groups of people there, and I need a new mentality when I return… And a new liver.

How

How about no…

Splitting up the distance in driving we have all equally drove around 10 hours since the trip started.

It is not horrible, having two other people in rotation to keep you occupied helps a lot. It seems the rotation is: drive five hours, then your co-pilot will take over and the person snoozing in the back become the co-pilot.

Road Trip Tip: Down south people really drive the speed limit, there is no complimentary 10 over as New Yorkers do it.

Bottom Line

We are on the road again, just trying to find a place to fall in love with. So far New York still has the most beautiful scenic drives… that Hudson Valley hits different.

Accents are changing, people are friendlier, and time is moving WAY to fast… how has it already been a full week :/

Onto the next…

[michaelandy101-blog]

A Brief History of Productivity: How Getting Stuff Done Became an Industry

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A Brief History of Productivity: How Getting Stuff Done Became an Industry

Anyone who’s ever been a teenager is likely familiar with the question, “Why aren’t you doing something productive?” If only I knew, as an angsty 15-year-old, what I know after conducting the research for this article. If only I could respond to my parents with the brilliant retort, “You know, the idea of productivity actually dates back to before the 1800s.” If only I could ask, “Do you mean ‘productive’ in an economic or modern context?”

Back then, I would have been sent to my room for “acting smart.” But today, I’m a nerdy adult who is curious to know where today’s widespread fascination with productivity comes from. There are endless tools and apps that help us get more done — but where did they begin? 

If you ask me, productivity has become a booming business. And it’s not just my not-so-humble opinion — numbers and history support it. Let’s step back in time, and find out how we got here, and how getting stuff done became an industry.

What Is Productivity?

The Economic Context

Dictionary.com defines productivity as “the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services.” In an economic context, the meaning is similar — it’s essentially a measure of the output of goods and services available for monetary exchange.

How we tend to view productivity today is a bit different. While it remains a measure of getting stuff done, it seems like it’s gone a bit off the rails. It’s not just a measure of output anymore — it’s the idea of squeezing every bit of output that we can from a single day. It’s about getting more done in shrinking amounts of time.

It’s a fundamental concept that seems to exist at every level, including a federal one — the Brookings Institution reports that even the U.S. government, for its part, “is doing more with less” by trying to implement more programs with a decreasing number of experts on the payroll.

The Modern Context

And it’s not just the government. Many employers — and employees — are trying to emulate this approach. For example, CBRE Americas CEO Jim Wilson told Forbes, “Our clients are focused on doing more and producing more with less. Everybody’s focused on what they can do to boost productivity within the context of the workplace.”

It makes sense that someone would view that widespread perspective as an opportunity. There was an unmet need for tools and resources that would solve the omnipresent never-enough-hours-in-the-day problem. And so it was monetized to the point where, today, we have things like $25 notebooks — the Bullet Journal, to be precise — and countless apps that promise to help us accomplish something at any time of day.

But how did we get here? How did the idea of getting stuff done become an industry?

A Brief History of Productivity

Pre-1800s

Productivity and Agriculture

In his article “The Wealth Of Nations Part 2 — The History Of Productivity,” investment strategist Bill Greiner does an excellent job of examining this concept on a purely economic level. In its earliest days, productivity was largely limited to agriculture — that is, the production and consumption of food. Throughout the world around that time, rural populations vastly outnumbered those in urban areas, suggesting that fewer people were dedicated to non-agricultural industry.

Source: United Nations Department of International Economic and Social Affairs

On top of that, prior to the 1800s, food preservation was, at most, archaic. After all, refrigeration wasn’t really available until 1834, which meant that crops had to be consumed fast, before they spoiled. There was little room for surplus, and the focus was mainly on survival. The idea of “getting stuff done” didn’t really exist yet, suppressing the idea of productivity.

The Birth of the To-Do List

It was shortly before the 19th century that to-do lists began to surface, as well. In 1791, Benjamin Franklin recorded what was one of the earliest-known forms of it, mostly with the intention of contributing something of value to society each day — the list opened with the question, “What good shall I do this day?”

Source: Daily Dot

The items on Franklin’s list seemed to indicate a shift in focus from survival to completing daily tasks — things like “dine,” “overlook my accounts,” and “work.” It was almost a precursor to the U.S. Industrial Revolution, which is estimated to have begun within the first two decades of the nineteenth century. The New York Stock & Exchange Board was officially established in 1817, for example, signaling big changes to the idea of trade — society was drifting away from the singular goal of survival, to broader aspirations of monetization, convenience, and scale.

1790 – 1914

The Industrial Revolution actually began in Great Britain in the mid-1700s, and began to show signs of existence in the U.S. in 1794, with the invention of the cotton gin — which mechanically removed the seeds from cotton plants. It increased the rate of production so much that cotton eventually became a leading U.S. export and “vastly increased the wealth of this country,” writes Joseph Wickham Roe.

Source: Gregory Clark

It was one of the first steps in a societal step toward automation — to require less human labor, which often slowed down production and resulted in smaller output. Notice in the table below that, beginning in 1880, machinery added the greatest value to the U.S. economy. So from the invention of the cotton gin to the 1913 unveiling of Ford’s inaugural assembly line (note that “automotive” was added to the table below in 1920), there was a common goal among the many advances of the Industrial Revolution: To produce more in — you guessed it — less time.

Source: Joel Mokyr

1914 – 1970s

Pre-War Production

Source: Joel Mokyr

Advances in technology — and the resulting higher rate of production — meant more employment was becoming available in industrial sectors, reducing the agricultural workforce. But people may have also become busier, leading to the invention and sale of consumable scheduling tools, like paper day planners.

According to the Boston Globe, the rising popularity of daily diaries coincided with industrial progression, with one of the earliest known to-do lists available for purchase — the Wanamaker Diary — debuting in the 1900s. Created by department store owner John Wanamaker, the planner’s pages were interspersed with print ads for the store’s catalogue, achieving two newly commercial goals: Helping an increasingly busier population plan its days, as well as advertising the goods that would help to make life easier.

Source: Boston Globe

World War I

But there was a disruption to productivity in the 1900s, when the U.S. entered World War I, from April 1917 to the war’s end in November 1918. Between 1918 and at least 1920 both industrial production and the labor force shrank, setting the tone for several years of economic instability. The stock market grew quickly after the war, only to crash in 1929 and lead to the 10-year Great Depression. Suddenly, the focus was on survival again, especially with the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941.

Source: William D. O’Neil

But look closely at the above chart. After 1939, the U.S. GDP actually grew. That’s because there was a revitalized need for production, mostly of war materials. On top of that, the World War II era saw the introduction of women into the workforce in large numbers — in some nations, women comprised 80% of the total addition to the workforce during the war.

World War II and the Evolving Workforce

The growing presence of women in the workforce had major implications for the way productivity is thought of today. Starting no later than 1948 — three years after World War II’s end — the number of women in the workforce only continued to grow, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

That suggests larger numbers of women were stepping away from full-time domestic roles, but many still had certain demands at home — by 1975, for example, mothers of children under 18 made up nearly half of the workforce. That created a newly unmet need for convenience — a way to fulfill these demands at work and at home.

Once again, a growing percentage of the population was strapped for time, but had increasing responsibilities. That created a new opportunity for certain industries to present new solutions to what was a nearly 200-year-old problem, but had been reframed for a modern context. And it began with food production.

1970s – 1990s

The 1970s and the Food Industry

With more people — men and women — spending less time at home, there was a greater need for convenience. More time was spent commuting and working, and less time was spent preparing meals, for example.

The food industry, therefore, was one of the first to respond in kind. It recognized that the time available to everyone for certain household chores was beginning to diminish, and began to offer solutions that helped people — say it with us — accomplish more in fewer hours.

Those solutions actually began with packaged foods like cake mixes and canned goods that dated back to the 1950s, when TV dinners also hit the market — 17 years later, microwave ovens became available for about $500 each.

But the 1970s saw an uptick in fast food consumption, with Americans spending roughly $6 billion on it at the start of the decade. As Eric Schlosser writes in Fast Food Nation, “A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or literature.” This growing availability and consumption of prepared food revealed that we were becoming obsessed with maximizing our time — and with, in a word, productivity.

The Growth of Time-Saving Technology

Technology became a bigger part of the picture, too. With the invention of the personal computer in the 1970s and the World Wide Web in the 1980s, productivity solutions were becoming more digital. Microsoft, founded in 1975, was one of the first to offer them, with a suite of programs released in the late 1990s to help people stay organized, and integrate their to-do lists with an increasingly online presence.

Source: Wayback Machine

It was preceded by a 1992 version of a smartphone called Simon, which included portable scheduling features. That introduced the idea of being able to remotely book meetings and manage a calendar, saving time that would have been spent on such tasks after returning to one’s desk. It paved the way for calendar-ready PDAs, or personal digital assistants, which became available in the late 1990s.

By then, the idea of productivity was no longer on the brink of becoming an industry — it was an industry. It would simply become a bigger one in the decades to follow.

The Early 2000s

The Modern To-Do List

Once digital productivity tools became available in the 1990s, the release of new and improved technologies came at a remarkable rate — especially when compared to the pace of developments in preceding centuries.

In addition to Microsoft, Google is credited as becoming a leader in this space. By the end of 2000, it won two Webby Awards and was cited by PC Magazine for its “uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results.” It was yet another form of time-saving technology, by helping people find the information they were seeking in a way that was more seamless than, say, using a library card catalog.

In April 2006, Google Calendar was unveiled, becoming one of the first technologies that allowed users to share their schedules with others, helping to mitigate the time-consuming exchanges often required of setting up meetings. It wasn’t long before Google also released Google Apps for Your Domain that summer, providing businesses with an all-in-one solution — email, voicemail, calendars, and web development tools, among others.

Source: Wayback Machine

During the first 10 years of the century, Apple was experiencing a brand revitalization. The first iPod was released in 2001, followed by the MacBook Pro in 2006 and the iPhone in January 2007 — all of which would have huge implications for the widespread idea of productivity.

2008 – 2014

Search Engines That Talk — and Listen

When the iPhone 4S was released in 2011, it came equipped with Siri, “an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.” Google had already implemented voice search technology in 2008, but it didn’t garner quite as much public attention — most likely because it required a separate app download. Siri, conversely, was already installed in the Apple mobile hardware, and users only had to push the iPhone’s home button and ask a question conversationally.

But both offered further time-saving solutions. To hear weather and sports scores, for examples, users no longer had to open a separate app, wait for a televised report, or type in searches. All they had to do was ask.

By 2014, voice search had become commonplace, with multiple brands — including Microsoft and Amazon — offering their own technologies. Here’s how its major pillars look today:

The Latest Generation of Personal Digital Assistants

With the 2014 debut of Amazon Echo, voice activation wasn’t just about searching anymore. It was about full-blown artificial intelligence that could integrate with our day-to-day lives. It was starting to converge with the Internet of Things — the technology that allowed things in the home, for example, to be controlled digitally and remotely — and continued to replace manual, human steps with intelligent machine operation. We were busier than ever, with some reporting 18-hour workdays and, therefore, diminishing time to get anything done outside of our employment.

Here was the latest solution, at least for those who could afford the technology. Users didn’t have to manually look things up, turn on the news, or write down to-do and shopping lists. They could ask a machine to do it with a command as simple as, “Alexa, order more dog food.”

Of course, competition would eventually enter the picture and Amazon would no longer stand alone in the personal assistant technology space. It made sense that Google — who had long since established itself as a leader in the productivity industry — would enter the market with Google Home, released in 2016, and offering much of the same convenience as the Echo.

Of course, neither one has the same exact capabilities as the other — yet. But let’s pause here, and reflect on how far we’ve come.

2015 to 2020

Smart Devices are Everywhere

The Amazon Echo was just the beginning of smart devices that could help us plan out our day. We now have smart thermostats that schedule our heating and cooling, refrigerators that notify us when we’re low on food, TVs with every streaming service we need, and a handful of other appliances that schedule themselves around on our lifestyle.

While some might worry that smart devices could limit our level of motivation and productivity, others might disagree. Smart devices often free us up from mundane tasks while allowing us more time to focus on more productive things that are more important.

Big Data Powers Business Productivity

With technology like artificial intelligence, automation, analytics tools. and contact management systems, we are now able to gather more data about our audiences and customers quickly with the click of just a few buttons. This data has allowed marketers, as well as strategists in other departments to build tactics that engage audiences, please customers, generate revenue, and even offer major ROI. 

Want to see an example? Here’s a great case study on how one successful agency used AI and analytics software to gather, report, and strategize around valuable client data.

Offices Rely on Productivity Tools

We’ve come a long way from Google Calendar. Each day, you might use a messaging system like Slack, a video software like Zoom, or task-management tools like Trello, Asana, or Jira to keep your work on track. 

Aside from keeping employees on task, these tools have been especially important for keeping teams connected and on the same page. As modern workplaces increasingly embrace remote and international teammates, they’re also investing in digital task management and productivity tools that can keep everyone in the loop.  

Looking to boost your digital tool stack? Check out this list of productivity tools, especially if you’re working remotely. 

Where Productivity Is Now — and Where It’s Going

We started this journey in the 1700s with Benjamin Franklin’s to-do list. Now, here we are, over two centuries later, with intelligent machines making those lists and managing our lives for us.

Have a look at the total assets of some leaders in this space (as of the writing of this post, in USD):

Over time — hundreds of years, in fact — technology has made things more convenient for us. But as the above list shows, it’s also earned a lot of money for a lot of people. And those figures leave little doubt that, today, productivity is an industry, and a booming one at that.

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in January 2017, but was updated in July 2020 for comprehensiveness and freshness. 

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[stormysurveys]

15

A – Accidents

01. Have you ever been in a car accident? + -- Yes.

02. Do you have a lot of scars? + -- A fair amount. I'm sure many hae faded by now, though...

03. Have you ever been in a fist fight with someone? + -- I don't count sparring, but I've had a few close calls. I gave them the opportunity to fight me since they seemed so eager, but they always walked away?? Like, hello, you outnumbered me. Surely the two of you can handle little old me. But oh well I guess.

04. Have you ever seriously hurt anyone by mistake? + -- Yes.

05. Have you ever had stitches? Where? + -- Apparently I was supposed to get stitches but nobody ever took me to the hospital, so I had to kind of handle it on my own.

B – Beauty

06. Do you consider yourself beautiful? + -- GOD no lol.

07. Are you self conscious of how you look? + -- Yes.

08. Do you put on a lot of makeup? + -- My skin doesn't tolerate any kind of makeup. I learned to deal without it.

09. Would you ever consider getting plastic surgery? + -- The only way to fix what puberty did to my skin is apparently extreme laser surgery. Too bad for me.

10. What do you think makes a person beautiful? + -- A kind heart. Among other things.

C – Consequences

11. What was the longest amount of time you’ve been grounded for? + -- A few weeks. I don't even remember what it was for.

12. What would you do if you got pregnant, keep it or have an abortion? + -- I would get an abortion. It's kinder than having to have me for a parent. Ugh.

13. Do you ever think about how your actions affect other people? + -- Yes.

14. What do you think is the worst punishment someone could give you? + -- Leaving me alone while you go do fun things.

15. What is one thing you wish you didn’t do, just because it wasn’t worth it in the end? + -- There's a lot of things.

D – Dealing

16. When you are mad at someone, how do you show them? + -- I usually let it blow over. It's not worth bringing it up.

17. Name a time when you had to be strong. + -- Losing multiple cats and friends in one year.

18. Have you ever dealt with a divorce or parents fighting? Any kind of abuse at home? + -- My parents fought a lot, and various other things.

19. When people at school don’t accept you, or have problems with you, how do you react? + -- Deal with it. :| I'm here and you're gonna suck it up.

20. Have you ever lost someone to death? Explain how you got through it. + -- You just move on. I don't think you ever fully get over it.

E – Experience

21. Have you ever had a job? Any volunteer jobs? + -- Yes.

22. Do you think that you are sexually experienced, or not at all? + -- No. There's still so much I don't understand.

23. Have you gone through a lot emotionally, or has life been easy thus far? + -- I have gone through a lot, but I can't really compare myself to others.

24. Do you think you are ready to be on your own (have your own home, job, etc.)? + -- Yes.

25. How old do you act? + -- Hopefully like an adult.

F – Family

26. Is there anyone in your family you don’t talk to? Why? + -- To my knowledge, there's no bad blood between myself and my family. If anything, I pushed everyone away.

27. If you had to choose, family or friends? + -- /shrug

28. Can you tell your parents or one of your parents anything? + -- No.

29. Do you have any siblings? If so, do you ever get jealous of them? + -- No.

30. How often do you spend ‘quality time’ with family members? + -- My entire family lives in the South. I do not.

G – Growing

31. How tall are you? How tall do you wish you were? + -- 5'2" and 3/4". :l I wish I was maybe 5'5" or 5'6

32. Do you think that you have grown more in the past year than any year before that? + -- Maybe emotionally.

33. As a person, do you think you are mature for your age or still act childish? + -- You asked this.

34. Are you scared to think that one day you will turn 30, then 40, then 50? + -- I don't want to, but there's nothing I can do about it.

35. Do you believe you still have a lot to learn? + -- Yes.

H – Hope

36. Love – real or not? + -- It is real.

37. Are you a pessimist of an optimist? + -- Depends.

38. Do you believe in fate, that everything happens for a reason, or do you think that our actions lead the way? + -- A little of both, but I  don't usually rely on "fate".

39. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive? + -- I believe in reincarnation.

40. What gives you hope when you just feel like dying? + -- Nothing ever "gave me hope". I just realized that I could get back up in the end. The hardest part was physically making myself do it.

I – Issues

41. Do you suffer from depression or constant sadness/loneliness? + -- Lol, probably. I don't know.

42. Do you have any type of disease or disability? + -- I don't know.

43. Are you currently in a hard relationship or have bad luck with the opposite sex? + -- No.

44. Do you think that you are alone in this world? + -- It really do be like that sometimes.

45. How often do you think about death, suicide or running away? + -- Perhaps more than I ought to.

J – Jokes

46. Say a word or phrase that would not be funny to anyone but you & one of your friends (an inside joke) + -- I got nothin'.

47. Are you usually the one who makes people laugh,Or the other way around? + -- No, I just piss them off with my puns.

48. Do you cry when you laugh hard? + -- It happens.

49. Write down a hilarious moment you had with someone that makes you laugh to this day! + -- Probably. I'm not awake dude.

50. Do you ever get in trouble for laughing or talking a lot during class? + -- No.

K – Knowledge

51. The purpose of school: to learn, to cause trouble or to hang out with friends? + -- You tell me. I couldn't function at school at all. :D

52. Do people refer to you as smart, dumb, or average? + -- People probably think I'm unintelligent. I'll let them think what they want.

53. What was the highest grade you have received (full course mark) ever? + -- I don't know. I don't remember much from those days.

54. What was your last average? This year would you like to maintain it or aim higher?

55. What do you find the most interesting subject to be (to study or to talk about)? + -- Many things! Languages, psychology, history, philosophy, mathematics/logic (moreso on how it applies to the universe than trying to memorize formulae), the arts. ALL THAT HAPPY SHIT.

L – Love

56. Are you currently in love? If not, have you been before? + -- I assume so.

57. Do people around you show you a lot of love (tell you they love you, hug you, kiss you, etc.)? + -- Sure.

58. Is love worth it? + -- I guess if you find the right person, sure.

59. Do you hate it when girls in their young teenage years say they ‘love’ someone that they’ve been dating for a few months? + -- It's ridiculous, but children do what children do.

60. Does it take a lot for you to say you love someone, or is it just a word? + -- I don't like to throw it around. I'd rather show it anyway.

M – Money

61. Do you believe that money makes the world go round? + -- :/ Yes, and I hate it.

62. Is your family on the poor side, average, or above average when it comes to money? + -- My family did not have much money.

63. Are you saving up for college/university, or planning to? + -- I tried, aha. I couldn't live with the idea of putting my parents in more debt than they'd ever owed in their lifetime, even for a small college. So I chose to wait until I was older. Unfortunately I still haven't gone.

64. Would you rather win millions of dollars & be set for life, or find the perfect person to marry & start a family with? + -- Blah blah blah

65. On a scale of 1-10, how important is money to you? + -- It isn't. I need it to survive, but that's about it.

N – Naughty

66. Are you a virgin? + -- No.

67. What do you think about doing sexual things with someone you’re not going out with? + -- I'm not really that kind of person.

68. Do you know anybody you consider a ’slut’? What makes you say that? + -- Eh.

69. If you could, would you erase some things you did in the past or make it so you did more? + -- Probably.

70. Do you consider yourself more nice or more naughty? You can’t say both! + -- Who says I can't say both? I'll say both if I damn well please. But I don't consider myself particularly "naughty". At least not with random strangers.

O – Openness

71. How long does it take for you to open up to someone? + -- Probably too long. Most people walked away before I could.

72. What does it take for you to fully trust someone? + -- I don't think I can.

73. Are you generally untrusting towards people because of past experiences, or any other reason? + -- No, I just don't want anyone to know.

74. When are you comfortable with someone sexually? + -- When I decide I don't care anymore. If they show they genuinely want to be with me, I guess.

75. When it comes to parents and close friends, what’s the limit of what you can tell them? + -- Hmm.

P – Positive

76. Have you ever had an experience with someone that didn’t necessarily end positively? If so, would you rather erase the memory of that person because of the sad times or keep the memory of that person because of the good times? + -- No, I will keep my memories.

77. Do you agree with the saying: better to have loved and lost than not have loved at all? + -- For me, no. I was content before I met my husband and I'd be fine after. But I also prefer being alone most of the time.

78. Are you more optimistic or pessimistic? What do you try to be? + -- A bit of both.

79. Do you agree that something good can come out of everything? + -- Possibly.

80. Have you ever had a time where something really bad happened, but something really good happened because of it? If so, please exlain what it was: + -- I'm sure, but I don't want to.

Q – Questions

81. When faced with a problem, do you ask for help or try to figure it out yourself? + -- I try to figure it out for myself first. I always get told "you need to ask for help blah blah". No, I don't. Let me do it on my own.

82. Do you often question the world and how we came about? What are some things you would like to know about creation? + -- I always question how things came about. And I don't know. What came before?

83. Do you think the government is truthful? If you could ask the president one question, what would it be? + -- LOL. I'm too conspiratorial for this survey.

84. When someone does something wrong to you, do you confront them and ask them why they did it or just let it go? + -- If I know them, then I'll bring it up casually or something. Could've been an accident. If I don't know them I might just shrug it off.

85. What is one unsolved mystery about the world that you want answers to? + -- There's a lot.

R – Respect

86. How do you show respect? + -- I treat everyone with politeness.

87. What can someone do for you to lose all respect for them? + -- Prove to me that you are a coward or generally a terrible person I guess.

88. Do you respect your teachers, parents, and other authority figures? + -- If they give me a reason to. I don't give out respect freely. I might do what you ask me, but I will do the bare minimum unless I actuallly care about what you have to say. Give me a reason to respect you, and I will work hard for you.

89. When you are disrespectful to your parents, what is the punishment? + -- My mom can't do anything to stop me. Not that I AM, but she's very old now.

90. If someone is mean to you, are you mean back or do you kill them with kindness? + -- Neither, but it depends on the situation. Like if you straight up hit me, well...

S – School

91. If you are still in school, what grade will you be going into?

92. When will you graduate high school/college? + -- I left years ago.

93. After high school, what did you do/are you planning to do?

94. Do you like or hate school? What do you like/hate about it? + -- I hated school. I couldn't function at all.

95. Have you ever been suspended, expelled, or dropped out of school? + -- I dropped out. After spending ages taking all these makeup classes on top of my regular studies, I had my counselor tell me to my face that I'd be good to go to graduate. And two weeks after school ended, I received a phone call telling me that no, I would not be graduating and that, if I wanted to, I'd have to pay them either $200 or $300 for either summer school or night school. I couldn't afford that, so I just didn't go back and acquired my GED, which was easier and I didn't have to study for it. :/

T – Temptation

96. Have you ever done something wrong, knowing it was wrong, because something inside of you said it was okay? + -- I mean... it's possible?

97. Has anyone ever pressured you to smoke or drink? Did you do it? + -- Nope. I've never smoked and I've no intention to.

98. Did you ever cheat on someone? Why did you do it? + -- My mom cheated on my dad multiple times. I've seen how it slowly tears the other person apart. I would NEVER do that to someone.

99. Did you ever want to do something sexual with someone you didn’t really know or love? What did you end up doing? + -- Not really. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with this, but my brain doesn't make the jump to "this person looks nice" to "I want to have sex with them" for some reason.

100. Do you give in to temptation easily, or are you more independent and strong willed? + -- In the middle. When it comes to junk food I'm more weak-willed, but other things not so much.

U – Unique

102. Do you do a lot of things because your friends are doing it? + -- Where's the other question? And uhh no?

103. Do you follow trends, wear whatever you want, or wear really unique pieces? + -- I don't pay attention to trends or fashion. There's times that I unintentionally, say, dyed my hair a "trendy" color - but it wasn't on purpose and it didn't stop me from dying my hair.

104. Do you give in easily to peer pressure? Do you do things such as smoke, drink, or have casual sex? + -- No. I rarely ever drink.

105. What makes you different from people your age? + -- I don't know and I don't care.

V – Value

106. What’s the most expensive thing in your room? + -- Probably the electronics.

107. What’s more valuable: your life or the lives of your loved ones? Would you sacrifice your life for other people? + -- The lives of my loved ones. I'd do what I had to do I guess.

108. What is something you value not because it cost a lot, but because it means a lot to you? + -- As far as regular material items, probably the little Stain merch I have. For anything else, it's my husband.

109. If there was a fire in your house/apartment, what is the first thing you would grab? + -- The cat.

110. Do you think past memories and experiences are more valuable than what could possibly happen in the future? + -- Of course. You can always look at them later.

W – Wishes

111. If you had three wishes, what would they be? + -- I dunno. Is there a genie involved? I don't like the idea of someone being enslaved to serve me, so that's out the window. I wouldn't feel right just wishing something out of thin air like that.

112. Would you rather wish yourself to be happy, or your loved ones? + -- Loved ones.

113. Do you believe that wishes come true if you really believe in them? + -- Just go out and do it man. If you sit around wishing you'll just wish your life away.

114. Have you ever had a wish come true? If so, what was that wish? + -- It only "came true" because I forced something to change. I made the necessary sacrifices to make it come true. Nothing more, nothing less.

115. Do you find wishing for things a waste of time because everything that’s meant to happen, will happen? + -- I think it's important to believe in something. But I also believe it's important to actually reach out to make them happen too. It's not just going to drop into your lap.

Y – You

121. Are you more independent or social? + -- Independent.

122. What is something that makes you very mad when you see it? + -- Oh god hahahaha. When they sweep my favorite holiday under the rug to ring in Christmas extremely early all for the sake of cashmoney.

123. Do you think that you have potential to do great things? + -- I don't know. I assume I don't, but I don't really think much about that.

124. Do you think people are born a certain way, or develop their personalities based on what they go through in life? + -- Genes definitely play an impact on a person's mentality and whatnot, but the environment ultimately shapes that.

125. Do you think people are generally good ? + -- "Good" and "evil" feel like really convenient terms to me nowadays. I think people believe that a) they are the hero of their own story, and that b) most people have "good" intentions. Unfortunately, good intentions do not a good person make.

Z – Zest

126. Are you currently happy with your life? Why or why not? + -- No. It's not where I want to be yet.

127. Do you go on FacebookCraze.com to get facebook survey’s and quizzes like this one? + -- No.

128. When change occurs, do you get scared or are you excited for it? + -- I just prepare for it.

129. Do you like to try new things, meet new people? + -- Yes.

130. What is the most motivational thing in the world? + -- When you have no other choice LOL

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rebirth of Kaiser:  Chapter 18

One of the Hail Cybers escorted Ryou to another chamber. This one definitely was a cut above where he’d woken up, especially in regards to the decorations. The bed there was just big enough for one person, a little softer than he would have expected, covered by a woven spread in reds and golds that displayed either a sunset or sunrise: it had been cleverly designed to be either one. A wardrobe stood in the corner beside the narrow window, crafted out of a fine wood that Ryou didn’t recognize, with multiple outfits folded inside of it. The clothes themselves looked somewhat similar, all in shades of blue, but with enough variance so that many outfits could be made. There were boots to go with the clothes as well, and a fine cloak edged in fur that he also didn’t recognize.

Spread on the floor was another work of art, this one used as a rug, displaying a deep rich blue sky with puffy clouds floating here and there. It matched a tapestry on the wall, and the weaving of bedspread, rug, and tapestry were so identical that Ryou guessed they'd all been made by the same person.

He almost expected to hear the door being locked behind himself. But a careful look at the door showed that it wasn’t locked at all. There was a guard outside, but when he peered out, she drew herself to attention.

“Is there anything that I can do for you, sir?”

Ryou shook his head. “No.” He didn’t offer an explanation on why he looked out, only closed the door and checked the room out again. A chair sat beside a table, the chair with a plush cushion on it, the table with a polished silver mirror hanging above it.

As size went, it wasn’t a large room, but it was comfortable and he didn’t feel as if this were a fancy dungeon. This was a guest room. This was his room.

Not that he’d be here all that long. He’d already made his mind up on that.

I’ll stay long enough to meet up with Yuusuke again and then we’ll get out of here. He wasn’t at all certain that he wanted anything to do with this war of the Hail Cybers and Knights. He hadn’t heard much more about it either.

A tap came on the door. Ryou found himself very tempted not to answer, but he knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything. Where else would he be except here? And perhaps whoever it was had some news about Yuusuke or when he would be there.

On the other side of the door stood Captain Tesni. She bent her head the moment the door opened.

“I suspect that you’d like more information about our war before it arrives on our doorstep?”

Ryou folded his arms over his chest. What he wanted was time to deal with those memories that he’d found stirring up and to see if he could bring back any more of them. But the look on Tesni’s face indicated that she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“If I told you I had no intentions of helping you, would it make a difference?”

Tesni shook her head. “We’ve searched for you for a long time. I swear we didn’t mean it to be like this, but we do need your help.”

“I’m sure you do. That doesn’t mean you’re going to get it.” Ryou stepped away from the door and stared out the window. It wasn’t very big but it gave him a good view of what looked like a practice yard of some kind. More Hail Cybers roamed out there, some of them practicing archery, others drilling against each other. There were other warriors of various kinds, all with ‘Cyber’ in the name, sparring against one another.

He suspected that she wanted him to feel at home here. He was Cyber Hell Paladin. He knew that he should have felt at home with others of his own kind here. And yet he didn’t.

I’m not uncomfortable. But this isn’t where I belong. He couldn’t have said where he did belong. But this wasn’t it.

She moved over to stand beside him. “Several years ago the Knights and I were in an alliance together. We’d staked out a reasonable amount of territory and ruled it. Our kingdom grew and we were building a good life together. There was peace. Actual peace in this place.”

Ryou could understand how rare that was. Peace came rarely and seldom lasted, and when it did, someone tended to wreck it.

“Two years ago, the leader of the Knights fell in a raid by a group of evil magicians. We expected his successor to be reasonable. But he withdrew from the alliance and came to within a hair of poisoning me.” Tesni’s fingers clenched for a few seconds. “If I hadn’t had a healer on hand at the moment, I wouldn’t be standing here now. That same healer is who advised us to find a new warrior, one who could increase our power and protect us from whatever effects the Knights chose to use against us.”

She turned to face him. “That was when we started to look for you. The peace of the kingdom was shattered by the Knights and until they’re defeated, it can’t be restored.”

Ryou listened to all of it. He wasn’t all that happy to hear any of it. He wanted to find himself, not find a war. But at least now he could understand what was behind what had happened.

“All we need you to do is stay close enough for your effects to help us.” Tesni told him. “You don’t have to fight… though...” Her words limped to a halt and she looked away again.

Ryou’s lips thinned. “Though?” Whatever she had in mind, he was quite certain that he didn’t like it.

“Your companion: the shadow mage. He could be quite useful to us. But he won’t want to help us any more than you do, will he?” She sounded more than a little exasperated. Ryou wasn’t at all worried by this. She’d earned whatever he and Yuusuke chose to give her.

He shrugged. “I doubt it. Yuusuke isn’t one for war. When he arrives, we’ll be leaving.” He wasn’t going to hide that. They would have to settle this for themselves.

A tiny scrap of unease buried deep within himself flickered. Ryou tried hard to press down on it, to make it vanish, but it remained right where it was.

“You can find help somewhere else.”

Tesni laughed at that, a sound almost as bitter as sounds he’d made – or dreamed about making. “What makes you think that we haven’t tried? We’ve done our best to make alliances everywhere. Most of them refused to help or allied with the Knights, seeing them as stronger. Some of them did agree to help but they’re not strong enough themselves to do very much.”

She rested a hand on the edge of the window. “This battle – when it happens – will be the last one between us. We’re down to less than a third of what we were when the war began and they outnumber us by nearly twice this number. With your help we can win. They’ve brought allies of magic, fiends, and others. We have very little beyond what you’ve seen here.”

I don’t want to do this. Ryou told himself that over and over. He really didn’t.

Or if he were going to be flawlessly honest with himself, he didn’t want to want to help. But the more that he watched and the more that what Tesni said sank deeper into him, the more he began to wonder.

The people of this world deserve peace. At least most of them do. If there’s something that I can do about this, shouldn’t I?

He’d talked about something like that once or twice with Juudai. Responsibility, that was what it was. Juudai held a huge, almost unbelievably monstrous burden of responsibility, and he did his best to help everyone and anyone who needed it. Ryou hadn’t ever felt all that responsible for anyone else. The more the flickers of memory from his past revived themselves, the more he wondered if he’d always been like that.

If I was, was that the right way for me to be? That was an answer that he didn’t have.

“With luck, your companion should be here soon. I know what you’ve said about leaving. But tell him what I’ve told you and let him make up his own mind. That’s only fair, isn’t it?”

Ryou said nothing at all for several minutes. He turned over everything Tesni said, whether he liked it or not. The only answer that truly made him feel right was one that he didn’t fully trust, not with how he’d been brought into this situation.

“All right.”

Yuusuke should make up his own mind. Ryou suspected what the answer would be. He just wanted to hear it for himself.

Tesni said nothing else, though, at least not on the subject of what Yuusuke and his answer would be.

“If you’re hungry, then dinner will be served soon. You can come down to the dining hall or we can have a plate brought up here.”

Ryou considered that for a few moments. Faint flickers of memory moved, presenting him with the image of a beautiful room full of boys, all dressed in various garments with a preponderance of blue, seated at many different tables, with food being set before them. There he felt at peace. That was a place he belonged. He might not have at one point, but he had when he was there.

“I’ll go down there. Tell me when.” Ryou cast a glance across the room again. He wanted to be somewhere else. This just didn’t feel right, and it had nothing at all to do with the decorations or the space. He needed air.

“I’ll send someone.” Tesni nodded towards him before stepping out of the room and down the hallway. Ryou watched the door until he couldn’t hear her anymore, then turned his attention out the window again.

The training continued, though the various Hail Cybers switched places, those who had been using bows and arrows now having their swords out and sparring amongst each other, and those who’d sparred now working on their accuracy with bows. Ryou’s hand dropped down by his waist and another sensation, not quite like a memory but the feel of a memory that couldn’t be and wasn’t yet, brushed by him. He missed something. He needed something and it wasn’t there.

I’m Cyber Hell Paladin. The name glimmered fondly in the depths of his mind. Is this what I wear? Is this what I look like?

No. No, it wasn’t. He didn’t know what he should wear, but it wasn’t this at all. He would have to find it, sooner or later.

His gaze drifted from the window and when he looked back, he spied someone on the other side of the training field. He couldn’t get a good look at them; they were shrouded in a cloak, and at that distance even if they hadn’t been, he couldn’t have seen more than blurred features.

Who are you? This person stared directly at him, and Ryou suspected he saw a smile of some kind. He did, without a doubt, see the stranger raise one hand towards him, in a gesture that he suspected of being a greeting of some sort. He didn’t return it. He wanted to know who was there before he did that.

As if the other read his mind, they nodded for a second. Whatever else he expected, he didn’t think that seeing them vanish in between one breath and the next was it. If anyone else saw that, they didn’t react at all.

Moments later, a tap came at the door, followed by a voice. “Cyber Hell Paladin, sir, it’s time for dinner.”

To Be Continued

Notes: So now I have a war to wrap up and the situation with Chaos Hunter as well.