#like first i figured out like :0 ??? got one of the rings from Mercy

[lammydraws]

sorry my handwriting is messy

"Mercy": Magic user, rings constantly rotating/orbinging (around her horns), wings made using magic, same as the "eyes of judgement" (both can be put away)

She's the person having the red crown before it is given to Narinder

???: receives one of the rings from Mercy, they can change their size freely. After Mercy's disappearance ??? returns to their realms, but keeps a close eye on the events ocurring in the Land of the Old Faith

"Oomi": also received one of the rings from Mercy, they also can use magic and use it to create their wings which they can put away

oomis character design was an adopt purchased from casper (@secondsonaym ) (they make cool stuff) (and i still have to properly draw them my apologies)

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[queenlua]

hey, i started following you recently and ur bio says ur a hacker? any tips on where to start? hacking seems like a v cool/fun way to learn more abt coding and cybersecurity/infrastructure and i'd like to explore it but there's so much on the internet and like, i'm not trying to get into anything illegal. thanks!

huh, an interesting question, ty!

i can give more tailored advice if you hit me up on chat with more specifics on your background/interests.

given what you've written here, though, i'll just assume you don't have any immediate professional aspirations (e.g. you just want to learn some things, and you aren't necessarily trying to get A Cyber Security Job TM within the next three months or w/e), and that you don't know much about any specific programming/computering domain yet.

(stuff under cut because long)

first i'd probably just try to pick some interesting problem that you think you can solve with tech. this doesn't need to be a "hacking" project at first; i was just messing around with computers for ages before i did anything involving security/exploitation.

if you don't already know how to program, you should ideally pick a problem you can solve via programming. for instance: i learned a lot back in the 2000s, when play-by-post forum RPGs were in vogue.  see, i'd already been messing around, building my own personal sites, first just with HTML & CSS, and later on with Javascript and PHP.   and i knew the forum software everyone used (InvisionPowerBoard) was written in PHP.  so when one of the admins at my RPG complained that they'd like the ability to set multiple profile pictures, i was like, "hey i'm good at programming, want me to create a mod to do that," and then i just... did. so then they asked me to program more features, and i got all the sexy nerd cred for being Forum Mod Queen, and it was a good time, i learned a lot.

(i also got to be the person who was frantically IMed at 2am because wtf the forum is down and there's an inscrutable error, what do??? basically sysadmining! also, much less sexy! still, i learned a lot!)

the key thing is that it's gotta be a problem that's interesting to you: as much as i love making dorky sites in PHP, half the fun was seeing other people using my stuff, and i think the era of forum-based RPGs has passed. but maybe you can apply some programming talents to something that you are interested in—maybe you want to make a silly Chrome extension to make people laugh, a la Cloud to Butt, or maybe you'd like to make a program that converts pixel art into cross-stitching patterns, maybe you want to just make a cool adventure game on those annoying graphing calculators they make you use in class, or make a script for some online game you play, or make something silly with Arduino (i once made a trash can that rolled toward me when i clapped my hands; it was fun, and way easier than you'd think!), whatever.

i know a lot of hacker-types who got their start doing ROM hacking for video games—replacing the character art or animations or whatever in old NES games. that's probably more relevant than the PHP websites, at least, and is probably a solid place to get started; in my experience those communities tend to be reasonably friendly to questions. pick a small thing you want to do & ask how to do it.

also, a somewhat unconventional path, but—once i knew how to program a bit of Python, i started doing goofy junk, like, "hey can i implemented NamedTuple from scratch,” which tends to lead to Python metaprogramming, which leads to surprising shit like "oh, stack frames are literally just Python objects and you can manually edit them in the interpreter to do deliberately horrendous/silly things, my god this language allows too much reflection and i'm having too much fun"... since Python is a lot of folks' first language these days, i thought i'd point that out, since i think this is a pretty accessible start to thinking about How Programs Actually Work under the hood. allison kaptur has some specific recommendations on how to poke around, if you wanna go that route.

it's reasonably likely you'll end up doing something "hackery" in the natural course of just working on stuff. for instance, while i was working on the IPB forum software mods, i became distressed to learn that everyone was using an INSECURE version of the software! no one was patching their shit!! i yelled at the admins about it, and they were like "well we haven't been hacked yet so it's not a problem," so i uh, decided to demonstrate a proof of concept? i downloaded some sketchy perl script, kicked it until it worked, logged in as the admins, and shitposted a bit before i logged out, y'know, to prove my point.

(they responded by banning me for two weeks, and did not patch their software. which, y'know, rip to them; they got hacked by an unrelated Turkish group two months later, and those dudes just straight-up deleted the whole website. i was a merciful god by comparison!)

anyway, even though downloading a perl script and just pointing it at a website isn't really "hacking" (it's the literal definition of script kiddie, heh)—the point is i was just experimenting a lot and trying a lot of stuff, which meant i was getting comfortable with thinking of software as not just some immutable relic, but something you can touch and prod in unexpected ways.

this dovetails into the next thing, which is like, just learn a lot of stuff. a boring conventional computer science degree will teach you a lot (provided you take it seriously and actually try to learn shit); alternatively, just taking the same classes as a boring conventional computer science degree, via edX or whatever free online thingy, will also teach you a lot. ("contributing to open source" also teaches you a lot but... hngh... is a whole can of worms; send a follow-up ask if you want that rant.)

here's where i should note that "hacking" is an impossibly broad category: the kind of person who knows how to fuck with website authentication tokens is very different than someone who writes a fuzzer, who is often quite different than someone who looks at the bug a fuzzer produces and actually writes a program that can exploit that bug... so what you focus on depends on what you're interested in. i imagine classes with names like "compilers," "operating systems," and "networking" will teach you a lot. but, like, idk, all knowledge is god-breathed and good for teaching. hell, i hear some universities these days have actual computer security classes? that's probably a good thing to look at, just to get a sense of what's out there, if you already know how to program.

also be comfortable with not knowing everything, but also, learn as you go. the bulk of my security knowledge came when i got kinda airdropped into a work team that basically hired me entirely on "potential" (lmao), and uh, prior to joining i only had the faintest idea what a hypervisor was? or the whole protection ring concept? or ioctls or sandboxing or threat models or, fuck, anything? i mostly just pestered people with like 800 questions and slowly built up a knowledge base, and remember being surprised & delighted when i went to a security conference a year later and could follow most of the talks, and when i wound up at a bar with a guy on the xbox security team and we compared our security models a bunch, and so on.  there wasn't a magic moment when i "got it", i was just like, "okay huh this dude says he found a ring-0 exploit... what does that mean... okay i think i got that... why is that a big deal though... better ask somebody.." (also: reading an occasional dead tree book is a good idea. i owe my firstborn to Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development, as outdated as it is, and also O'Reilly's kookaburra book gave me a great overview of web programming back in the day, etc.  you can learn a lot by just clicking around random blogs, but you’ll often end up with a lot of random little facts and no good mental scaffolding for holding it together; often, a decent book will give you that scaffolding.)

(also, it's pretty useful if you can find a knowledgable someone to pepper with random questions as you go. finding someone who will actively mentor you is tricky, but most working computery folks are happy to tell you things like "what you're doing is actually impossible, here's why," or "here's a tutorial someone told me was good for learning how to write a linux kernel module," or "here's my vague understanding of this concept you know nothing about," or "here's how you automate something to click on a link on a webpage," which tends to be handier than just google on its own.)

if you're reading this and you're like "ok cool but where's the part where i'm handed a computer and i gotta break in while going all hacker typer”—that's not the bulk of the work, alas! like, for sure, we do have fun pranking each other by trying dumb ways of stealing each other's passwords or whatever (once i stuck a keylogger in a dude's keyboard, fun times). but a lot of my security jobs have involved stuff like, "stare at this disassembly a long fuckin' time to figure out how the program pointer got all fucked up," or, "write a fuzzer that feeds a lot of randomized input to some C++ program, watch the program crash because C++ is a horrible language for writing software, go fix all the bugs," or "think Really Hard TM about all the settings and doohickeys this OS/GPU/whatever has, think about all the awful things someone could do with it, threat model and sandbox accordingly." occasionally i have done cool proof-of-concept hacks but honestly writing exploits can kinda be tedious, lol, so like, i'm only doing that if it's the only way i can get people to believe that Yes This Is Actually A Problem, Fix Your Code

"lua that's cool and all but i wanted, like, actual links and recommendations and stuff" okay, fair. here's some ideas:

microcorruption: very fun embedded security CTF; teaches you everything you need to know as you're doing it.

cryptopals crypto challenges: very fun little programming exercises that teach you a lot of fundamental cryptography concepts as you're going along! you can do these even as a bit of a n00b; i did them in Python for the lulz

the binary bomb lab is hilariously copied by, like, so many CS programs, lol, but for good reason. it's accessible and fun and is the first time most people get to feel like a real hacker! (requires you know a bit of C beforehand)

ctftime is a good way to see when new CTFs ("capture the flag"s; security-focused competitions) are coming up. or, sometimes CTFs post their source code, so you can continue trying them after the CTF is over. i liked Stripe's CTFs when they were going, because they focused on "web stuff", and "web stuff" was all i really knew at the time. if you're more interested in staring at disassembly, there's CTFs focused on that sort of thing too.

azeria has good ARM assembly & exploitation tutorials

also, like, lots of good talks out there; just watching defcon/cansecwest/etc talks until something piques your interest is very fun. i'd die on a battlefield for any of Christopher Domas's talks, but he assumes a lot of specific x86/OS knowledge, lol, so maybe don’t start with that. oh, Julia Evans's blog is honestly probably pretty good for just learning a lot of stuff and really beginner-friendly?

oh and wrt legality... idk, i haven't addressed it here since it hasn't come up in my own work much, tbh. if you're just getting started you're kind of unlikely to Break The Law without, y'know, realizing maybe you're doing something a bit gray-area? and you can cross that bridge when you come to it? Real Hacking TM is way more of a pain-in-the-ass than doing CTFs and such, and you'll learn way more with the latter, so who cares lol just do the fun thing

[katelynn-a-fan]

Why We Do What We Do (3)

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Five hours earlier

“Here we are!” Patton piped up as Logan, Roman, Virgil and Patton arrived at the location of their FamILY dinner, as Patton called it.

This is the 3rd time we’ve been to an Italian restaurant this month and we’re not even 3 weeks into the year. Honestly the only thing that we agree on with this place is their pasta. But as long as we’re here, the pasta is going to be delicious! The boys love their pasta.

Patton rolled his eyes as they entered into the restaurant’s immaculate foyer, passing the line of people going out the door. 

“Wow! It’s really busy tonight! Wonder what so special about today!” exclaimed Roman, who surged up to where the hosts were waiting, getting a few side-eyes from the line they had just passed. Patton just gave them a subtly, almost cheeky smile, as if he didn’t understand why they were looking at him.. 

Luckily for the little group, they had made a reservation early enough to be seated within minutes whereas there was a line out the door for the unfortunate majority that did know about the online reservation system the restaurant had. But then again, coming to this restaurant in particular at least once every 2 weeks since they were kids, if not more often, would get you swiftly accustomed to their way of doing things. 

Their host’s eyes lit up as they had approached to confirm their reservation and Patton swore that she had done something to bump them up because with how quickly they had been seated and where they were seated, it should’ve been a quarter hour. 

“I’ve wondered when you boys would be coming back next, anything new to speak about?” their host, Kiki bubbled as they neared her podium.

“Nothing more notable than last time Kiki.” Virgil snarked playfully, but as he said it, a blush creeped up on his cheeks. Roman’s face also turned a similar shade of red at Virgil’s words.

“Oh, don’t get me started about last time! When you told me you and Roman had finally planned to go out as a couple, I was over the moon! I don’t know how you two were so clueless about each other’s feelings when you have spent every day since you both started high school together.” Kiki snarked back as she automatically grabbed the menus and steered them to what they had claimed as ‘their’ booth, a semi circular booth, the kind that made it impossible to get out of if you were in the middle.

The Death Trap. They had come to call it that after many friendly squabbles and refusals of whoever was on outside to relent to move out the way of another person. Patton himself didn’t remember who first coined the moniker, either Virgil or Roman, but had stuck and Patton couldn’t think of anything more fitting to call it.

“We don’t know either.” Logan replied as Patton felt Logan instinctively grab Patton’s arm, which Patton responded to by intertwining their arms together instead, earning a gentle, playful glare from Logan as they walked along. Patton felt Logan rub a finger over Patton left ring finger where their wedding band resided.

“Damn right! ...Wait, Don’t you have midnight lab today, Logan?” Kiki enquired as she instinctively weaved through the tables and servers, but her head turned looking at Logan. Impressive.

“Yes, but you know I can’t possibly pass up our bi-monthy escapade to our most delectable choice of cuisine when there is no reason to refuse as is a tradition not easily thwarted.” Logan articulated as Patton felt him subtly squeeze his hand, which then earned Logan a glare of his own from Patton. 

You lovable nerd.

“Nerd.” Patton mumbled loud enough for Logan to hear, but both Logan’s response and their impromptu glaring game came to an end as they finally reached their destination at The Death Trap.

“Well then, I must spread the message that our 4 favorite boys are here and to give them the best service they can.” Kiki affirmed with a wink as she placed the menus on the table and then walked briskly out of sight.

Everyone was seated in The Death Trap with Logan and Patton to the left, Roman and Virgil to the right. Logan and Roman being on outside.

All of them got their usual, which their server didn’t even have to ask each of them in turn, just uttering a short ”Y’alls usuals?” And when they answered in the affirmative, the server quickly picked up the menus that were still in the same pile that Kiki had brought them in, which made Patton wonder why Kiki bothered with giving them the menus every time they came in. They knew the menus forwards and backwards.

After they were seated with drinks, the meal became a blur. Appetizers, then main meal and then the check was suddenly on the table

 They were discussing the semantics of when jello became a solid, with Logan arguing the scientific side when the jello was uniformly under 0 degrees Celsius as a large component of jello was water (Logan had a large distaste for America’s measurement systems and refused to use Fahrenheit). Roman argued that it was only when it was at a certain consistency, which he could not define, but insisted on challenging Logan’s assertion with his own nonetheless. 

Patton was never one to argue like this, but he enjoyed seeing Roman and Logan’s mental sparing. It was an interesting, no, entertaining thing to watch. Like a metaphorical gladiator battle, only Logan was almost always the winner and there was no blood to be shed. ‘Almost always’ being something Logan would deny to this day, but a little after all 4 of them had met as a group of friends, they had gotten into a debate about the size of the universe. 

Roman, as stubborn as ever, had brought up that the universe was around 100 billion light years in diameter, smug that he knew a scientific fact that would make him right. Logan quickly shot back that it was only the observable universe that was referring to and that the complete universe was much bigger. Roman retorted something along the lines that there was no way to measure how big the universe really was, so by default, Roman was right.

“No! The physical limit of the speed of light and the fact that you know the limit of the observable universe does not change the fact that the universe is no doubt infinitesimally big, unlike your brain!” Logan had huffed in frustration. 

“Hey, that was uncalled for!” Roman had exclaimed before they both went silent glaring at each other in what Patton had learned was not malice, but a mutual respect of each other’s debating ability. Virgil had not yet figured that out so he was bug-eyed and trembling slightly at their increasing intensity.

Patton had let the silence permeate for a moment or two before he piped up with a “Wait, doesn’t infinitesimal mean really, really small, not really, really big?” along with his signature head tilt he used for when he didn’t understand.

Logan had paused in what he going to say as Patton interjected and then started again, “No, Patton, I know my wo-”, before he froze with a look of realization that turned him beet red, which Patton realized later he had found really cute (Flustered Logan was best Logan in Patton’s opinion). Logan had run off to escape embarrassment while Roman bragged to Patton and Virgil that the infallible Logan had lost to the magnanimous Roman, who was giving him mercy by not pursuing him after Roman’s victory.

Just Logan being Logan and Roman being Roman.

However, Patton was pulled from his reminiscing by Virgil chiming in with a third opinion, that jello was both and neither, it was like a cat. It could conform to any container it was placed in, but was a solid that didn’t run when it was freestanding.

Patton reeled back out of surprise from whatever position he had been while he had been spacing out and turned to his left to stare at Virgil.

In all his years, there had never been a third contender in the ring of debate, this was new and exciting territory. Patton waited almost pensively for the other’s responses.

“But it does that when it’s liquid! If you take the jello out it stays in the same shape, and plus something can’t be both phases!” Roman retorted without hesitation.

“Concur with both of you, I still believe it only becomes a solid once the optimum temperature is reached, but when it is in the process of cooling down, I would agree with Virgil.” Logan proposed with expression of surprise probably similar to Patton’s.

“But that doesn’t make sense, neither of you are right! Jello is solid when you can stick your finger in and your finger doesn’t come back covered in liquid jello, that’s a foolproof theory!” Roman interjected, which cause Logan to raise his eyebrows.

“No it’s like a cat!” Virgil restated with a fire Patton had never seen in his eyes.

Oh, that’s new.

“No it’s not, cat is a living thing and jello is a food! Why have you chosen now to  start debating with us? I would’ve understood joining us earlier, but Logan and I have been doing this for years ever since we’ve met. Why don’t you leave the debating to the professionals?” Roman snickered as he seemed to turn himself full force against Virgil.

Virgil’s froze for a second before his eyes bugged out, reminding Patton of that infamous argument Logan and Roman had.

“What?” Virgil growled, causing Patton’s heart to seize, this... this was something different. This argument was turning into something dangerous.

“What? I’m just saying that we’ve been doing this a whole lot longer than you have so you’re not going to win the first round on your first time out.” Roman declared with pride.

Abort! Abort! Abort!

Logan tried to say something, to defuse the rapidly escalating argument, but was interrupted by Virgil.

“Well I’ve been listening you two bicker for years, you think I’m dull enough to not pick something up from your silly show?!” Virgil scowled as Patton saw his hands morph into fists.

Patton gently grasped Virgil’s arm in an attempt to calm him down, but Virgil brushed him off with glare as he waited for Roman’s response with a  much harsher glare that Roman didn't seem to register at all.

Roman seemed unperturbed as he responded with “Our debates aren’t silly! What would make you say that?” and a sly smile.

That was apparently the wrong thing to say and do, as Virgil exploded past Roman and all but ran out of the restaurant, causing Roman to curse as Virgil squeezed past him uncomfortably. Roman shot a glance of confusion at Logan and Patton as he quickly followed after his boyfriend, careful not to make a scene of himself. 

Patton gestured for Logan to exit as well, but Logan shook his head. “Someone needs to pay the check, if you want to follow them you can, I can’t stop you, but I need to stay.” Patton squeezed Logan’s hand and nodded before scooting out the other direction and walking as briskly as he could to catch up with Virgil and Roman.

When he reached them in the parking lot, Roman was grabbing Virgil’s hand to stop him.

No Roman, no!

“Virgil, wait-”

Virgil pulled his hand back like Roman’s touch burned him, wheeling back to face Roman.

“Get the fuck away from me! I need some fucking time away from this bullshit!” Virgil snarled as his knuckles turned white from how much he was squeezing his hands into a fist. 

Roman made a strangled noise before retaliating, matching Virgil’s intensity in response. “Well, this bullshit is your fucking boyfriend Virgil! I don’t know what’s gotten you so worked up, but apparently I was wrong to let you into our debate at all if it’s going to make you this worked u-”

Roman was interrupted by Virgil punching him square in the jaw.

“Fuck you! You never did respect me. Your head’s always been too far up your ass to ever respect me like a proper boyfriend.” Virgil spat as Roman staggered back both from the punch and the surprise of Virgil hitting him and Virgil turned continuing back to his car. 

Patton held Roman’s shoulders for a beat as he had almost fallen, but Roman angrily shook him off. Patton’s heart dropped as he realized thing had gotten way out of hand.

Roman’s gaze quickly hardened into a fury matching Virgil’s, “Well when you get the balls enough to come back to me I can assure you that we are done!” Roman rose his voice to shout as Virgil opened the door to his car.

“Fine!” Virgil’s car door slammed.

“Fine!” Roman snarled as he stalked over to his own car, ignoring Patton’s pleas for him to stay. Only pausing to turn back to give a Patton a glimpse of the growing bruise on the left side of his face and Roman’s contemptuous expression. 

“Some best friends you are, I thought you would care enough to protect me, or at least do something.” Roman snapped as he got into his car and slammed the door.

Patton could swear he heard his heart break.

Patton felt helpless as he felt Logan’s hand settle onto his shoulder. Without hesitation, he turned to bury his face into Logan’s shoulder. Logan’s hand instinctively held the back of Patton’s head as he spoke.

“It’s going to be okay, Patton, they just need time to cool off. You know how we were when we were young, their tempers just need time to back down and let what they both said sink in. You know they love each other, this won’t stop them.” Logan consoled him as Patton trembled in his arms, shuddering but Patton was somehow to hold back his cries.

Distantly, he heard two engines start up and then go in opposite directions until he couldn’t hear them anymore over his shuddering breaths.

For both Roman and Virgil’s sakes, Patton hoped Logan was right.

Taglist:

@lefaystrent @ironwoman359 @delimeful @supersoftsupersleep @altruistic-skittles @007ardra @illogicalthinking 

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

Song of the Dragonborn- Chapter 3: The Companions 

-0-0-0-0-0-

Thomas wanted to hide in on himself more than anything else, him, dragonborn!? And to head out to these graybeards? He shook his head, it sounded crazy, it was downright dizzying to think about. Capable as he was, he wasn’t a hero! Thomas bit his lower lip, sure he could fight alright, but he only got lucky with that dragon. How was he suppose to be anything more than just a guy on his way to Solitude. 

He supposed he could just head to Solitude and put this whole thing behind him. But, something twisted in his gut at that. The thought of Helgan, of all those people. Thomas shook his head again, if he was to make this journey he wanted to be ready. He wasn’t hiding, just training.  His eyes gazed from the bridge to the upside down boat of what was known as the Companions. Mayhaps? Taking a breath he made his way down the stairs heading over the bridges to the area. He gazed up at the building, taking a breath as he walked up and inside into the comfortable air inside. The scent of food made his mouth water, he hadn’t ate much on his travels but he shook his head trying not to think about it.

To his left he watched two people get into a fist fight, and felt very awkward. As he watched someone tapped his shoulder, he turned to see a women, long red hair and war paint on her face. She was clearly nord by her features, but she also looked very capable.  “New blood eh?” she asked with her arms crossed at him, as if judging him. Her eyes looking him up and down.

Thomas shifted a bit, “Er, yes.” he said finding his confidence again, as he met her gaze evenly. She laughed a bit at that, “Bravery, good, you’ll need it here. I’ll take you to Kodlak, he’ll see about you.” she told him with a wolfish grin on her face. 

Nodding to her, Thomas followed quietly after her and away from the large group around the table into the lower parts. She walked with her head high and shoulders back, intimidating to say the least. Thomas mostly just liked to stay low and not say much.  They neared a door at the far end, “He’s in there, we’ll see if he proclaims you new-blood?” she said looking him up and down before turning and leaving. 

Giving her a strange look as she left, Thomas entered the room, lingering in the back as he heard two people having a conversation. He only really caught bits and pieces of it, trying not to eavesdrop. Something about ‘call of the blood’ and ‘not everyone is happy’ or at least that’s what it sounds like. 

“Ah a stranger comes to our halls!” Thomas looked up to see a man with long white and gray hair in heavy armor with wolves on it. His beard was neatly tied as his eyes gazed into his very being. 

Straightening up, “Hello, my name is Thomas.” he said politely, “I’m here to join The Companions.” he said with as much confidence as he could muster. From what he saw with that nord women they valued bravery and confidence. But, he was also taught to respect elders. While Thomas didn’t think everyone of old age was deserving of respect, he could just sense this man, Kodlak clearly, was one who deserved it. 

“Would you now?” Kodlak hummed at him hand stroking his beard as he gazed at Thomas up and down much like how the red head did. He then nodded slowly, “Yes, perhaps, a certain strength of spirit.” The man he was talking to huffed in disbelief. “Now you can’t be serious Kodlak, I’ve never even heard of this man.”

Kodlak waved his hand, “It matters not Vilkas. Some come here to seek their Fame. Some men and women come just for the thrill of the fight. Others just are famous and wish to join. It matters not, so long as his blade arm is strong and his heart is true.” he commented calmly then turned to Thomas, “Tell me boy, how good is your arm?” he asked.

Thomas shifted a bit at that, “I have alot to learn, sir.” he admits quietly to him. “It’s why I seek to join.” Kodlak nodded to that with a pleased smile, “Good good, you will learn well then so long as you keep your head on a swivel and eyes to Sovenguard.” he promised looking to Vilkas, “Vilkas, why not test out this new-blood. See where we can place him to train with one of the higher members.” he suggested to the man with deep amber eyes and shaggy black hair.

With a nod and hum of confirmation he got up and motioned with his chin for Thomas to follow. Giving a look at that as Kodlak just nodded to him, Thomas turned and followed quietly. Vilkas seemed like a quiet type, didn’t speak as they walked out just giving nods to anyone they passed. And out they went to the courtyard. Thomas felt eyes on him as they got to the yard out back. 

“So the old man wants me to test you, see where you’ll stand for training with us to become a Companion.” Vilkas huffed at that, gazing at Thomas “Two-handed it seems, duel weapons.” he nodded pulling out a shield and sword. “Alright then, let’s see, take a few swings at me. Don’t worry, I can take it.” he chuckled at Thomas, there was no taunting, just a statement.

Thomas nods sobering up, he wouldn’t be meek, this was nothing compared to a dragon after all. Pulling out his weapons, he gripped his leather handles, the weight of them in his hands. And then he lashed out. Vilkas moved fast, but Thomas remained on edge. He turned from the shield that almost bashed his arm, catching it with his blade as the ring of metal was heard. Vilkas laughed at that, as Thomas skidded back and they ran at each other again. Thomas grunted at the force that hit him, but he dug in his feet as Vilkas tried to push him back. The sword reared back, Thomas gazed up then turned sharply as it barely missed his shoulder. He moved his blade down and caught the blade under his. The other holding the shield with the other blade as they held there.

Gazing at him and then grinning, Thomas’s eyes widen as Vilkas moved his foot and knocked Thomas down. The blade at his neck, he gazed up as Vilkas laughed. “Well new-blood you fight well, a bit sloppy on form, but you have fire. You’re still a whelp though, so just do as we tell you.” he mused with a grin, showing sharp teeth. “Here, run a few tasks to cool off from our sparing session.” he handed Thomas his hand, helping him up, then handed him a sword. “Tell Eorlund, at the Sky Forge, it needs sharpen.”

Panting a bit and nodding, Thomas got his sword putting them away in their sheaths. Vilkas nodded patting Thomas’s shoulder firmly before heading to set down for a bit.  Thomas turned and near flushed at the crowd that had gathered to watch their small sparing session. Taking a breath he turned away and walked up to what he knew to be Sky Forge now, trying to ignore the rush in his blood to fight again. That was normal, ever since he was little, the rush to fight and to win. His dad said he had a warriors spirit, but Thomas wasn’t sure that was it. 

Climbing up the stairs, the sun high in the sky, Thomas saw a man working the metal at the forge. Brows creased in concentration and eyes narrowed as the hammer strikes the hot metal. Then, as if sensing him, they turned to him and hum. “What brings you here?” he asked, his muscles flexing as he struck the metal again.  Thomas felt even more awkward about social interaction, “Well, Vilkas gave me his sword to bring to you.” he said holding it out.

Eorlund nodded to that as he took it, “Newcommer then?” he asked with a knowing look at him. Thomas just nodded feeling small inside, this was a bad idea. “Eh, don’t worry about it. They all were whelps once, they just don’t like to talk about it.” he told Thomas clasping his shoulder in a encouraging way. “If Kodlak says you have heart, then I’ll trust his judgement.”

“Thank you.” Thomas felt like some weight was off his shoulders, like Kodlak, Eorlund gave off a wise vibe, but capable in a fight. “Not sure really why I thought to join, figured if I am to make it in Skyrim I’ll need to be better at fighting.”

The blacksmith nodded, “A wise thought, your blade is the only think that stand between you and your enemy. Remember boy, nothing here will show mercy to you, so you shouldn’t either. Between creatures in the forests and people who’d slit your throat for a quick buck, you need to be ready.” he grunted out to Thomas as he treating the blade. “You’ll learn much here, and soon have songs sung about you.” he joked lightly at the last part.

Thomas felt himself smile a bit at that, Eorlund gave him a look. “Remember this though son, every man here is his own, and every women her own. No body rules a Companion. Kodlak is in charge, but a true leader, hasn’t been seen this Ysgamor.” he told Thomas in his gruff tones.

Turning to his blade to be cooled, Thomas watched for a long moment, Eorlund then grunted making him jump. “Interested in blacksmithing?” he asked knowingly with a side eyes. “Er well... yeah kind of.” Thomas admits to him sheepishly. Eorlund huffed, “Be firm with your words.” he said sharply to him, “But, here’s a deal for you. My wife is in grieving, I should be getting back to her. But, I have to finish Aela’s shield. Come back here when the sun is near the right of the city, and if you can deliver it for her, I’ll teach you smithing.” he offer to him.

Thomas blinked at that then nodded, “I can do that sir.”  Eorlund snorted, “Sir? Formal of you, just call me Eorlund or, if you want to be formal, Gray-mane is fine.” he told him. “For now, get to know the city, you look clueless walking about.”

Flushing, was it that obvious? But nodding, he left, walking down the stairs and frowned to himself. Get to know the city? Well, he was Thane now, at least only few knew of that, so he supposed he should. Patton did say to hit him up for a tour if he wanted it. So, he supposed first place to find him would be at the Warmaidens. Walking to the area on the path he always took. Walking up to see  Adrianne working, she looked at him and gave a kind smile. “Well it’s good to see you again, I see your quest is complete.” she laughed heartily, “What do you need my friend?” she asked.

“I was looking for Patton, seeing if he could show me around the city.” Thomas said, feeling more at ease as he knew of her better than most here.  Adrianne nodded to that, “He’s just inside, and I’m sure he’ll love to.” she told Thomas looking at him. “Thomas.” he looked at her before walking in. “I need to ask a favor of you.”

Frowning in thought he walked over to her from the doorway. “You see,” she started. “This is the first time I’ve seen Patton really take to liking a newcommer, sure he’s friendly, but he’s also a very wary person of new people. Took me and my husband a year to get him to open up to us about his past. However, he’s asked around about you to the guards. And, I ask of you this, be a good friend to that boy. He needs someone to rely on in this world.” she told him firmly.

Thomas blinked at that in shock, before smiling at her. “I will certainly try.” he promised. Adrianne nodded, “Good, just keep in mind, you hurt him and my husband and I will have your head.” she said seriously. Thomas looked worried at that with a strained and worried smile. 

“You both really care about him.” Thomas said with a nervous laugh. Sighing heavily, she nodded to that looking wistful. “We’ve always wanted a child. But, taking a blow to the stomach, though healed, didn’t help my chances.” she admits in a sad tone. “The boy came here, lost, confused, and wanting to learn. It wasn’t a challenge, my husband took a shining to him as much as I did. We can only hope to ready him for the world of being a merchant. This was 3 years ago.” she told Thomas.

He gazed at her for a long moment as she smiled, “Why am i telling you this? Because I think you’ll be a good influence on him, provided by husband is right about you.” she chuckled shaking her head. “You best head inside before you miss him.” Nodding, and saying his thanks, he walked inside to find Patton stocking things on shelves. Patton turned to speak but then beamed, “Thomas!” he said happily to him bouncing over. “What you need, the sword doing you well?” he asked.

Thomas smiled brightly, “Yup, I’ve joined the Companions.” he said to him. Patton’s eyes sparkled at that, “Really, that’s great!”

“More than great, Patton, I pegged you for a warrior when you walked in that day.” Ulfberth laughed as he came in with some shields setting them out on the tables. “To run with the Companions is a honorable path.” he told Thomas with a pleased nod. “I’m sure, still learning though and I have freetime.” Thomas turned to Patton, “As I’m a bit unsure, care to show me around the city?” he asked.

Patton smiled looking to Ulfberth, who chuckled, “Go on, I should be good here. Be back by dinner though.” he tells him, giving to them half a loaf of bread to snack on. Patton waved to him smiling happily as he pulled Thomas outside.

“I’ll be back before sundown Adrianne!” he said quickly as she beamed waving to them before going back to work. Patton pulled Thomas forward to an unknown area he hadn’t been in. “This is the City’s Wind Distract, most people live here and near the Cloud Distract, where Jorrvaskr is The Compainons, is the Underkeep, where the dead are housed.” Patton explained happily as he pulled Thomas along pointing out houses and who lives there and a bit of history.

Thomas was smiling as he listened to Patton talk taking up to the market place next as he waved to some of the stales. As they neared one though, with a older women who was talking to two men who were heckling her about her son. “Well we know where he is, he’s a prisoner in my cellar.” one sneered at her, “Face it old women, you’re son is dead, died a traitor to the Empire!” he said.

Something burned him as he near snarled. He walked over to them, eyes cold as Patton stared in shock and worry at that. “While I don’t have a stake in the war,” he began, “it gives one no right to bully the elderly.” he said getting near them with a cold look. They turned to him, “Oh? And what do you care? Another Stormcloak?” the older man asked with a sneer at Thomas.

“I’m just a man getting by, as much as any other in these times.” Thomas crossed his arms, mimicking Vilkas’s posture he saw. “And I don’t think your ancestors would take well to knowing that you spend your time picking on those older than you and wiser at that.” Opening his mouth to retort, but then snapping it closed. Something about this boy felt... strong, as if he was staring at the maws of a mighty dragon. Instead he scoffed, “Whatever boy, mind you tongue or it’ll be cut off.” he jeered before stalking off with his partner.

Thomas watched them leave, most had been staring at them, but some were nodding at Thomas’s words. Something in him gave a pleased hum to see the weak ones run. He then smiled and relaxed turning to the lady behind the stall. “Sorry about that Ma’ma, I don’t like people who bully others, regardless of their status.” he said to her looking at the jewelry she had on display.

Her wary face smiled at him, “Thank you young man, good to see Skyrim still has fine people in it.” she then sighed. “It’s not the first time this has happened to me though “Call me Fralia, I have seen you around here.” she mused to him then smiled brightly. “Ah Patton, showing this nice man around?” she asked.

Patton, once over his shock of Thomas standing up to a Battle-born, “Yes Fralia, this is Thomas.” he said with a smile.  “Well be sure to come back and chat, I do enjoy company.” she said to him with a smile as Thomas nodded waving to her as Patton pulled him along.

“Woah, you’re fearless!” Patton said once away. Thomas gave him a look, “How so?” he asks curiously to that. “You stood up to the Battle-borns, only few do so. They are powerful, money, and were here when Whiterun was founded.” Patton tells him softly.

For a moment, dread pooled in Thomas’s gut, but he pushed it down. “Regardless Patton, it still gives no right to treat people like that.” he tells him. Patton then nodded to that, “Very true, but not many would say it out loud. Many here, even those on the Empire side, dislike their way of bullying people. The Gray-manes, though at odds with them, I haven’t ever seen them start the fights.” he mused.

Nodding to that as they came near the tree, Patton looked upset again. “Something wrong?” Thomas asked him worriedly. “Ah, nothing.” Patton said with a wave of his hand, Thomas gave him a pointed look as Patton shifted “Well... this tree didn’t always look like this, when I came here it was very alive.” he said sadly.

“Shame isn’t it.” Thomas turned to see a healer prestress walk to them. “Hello Patton, showing the new guy around? Rumors already spread about him.” she said with a soft smile.

Patton smiled, “Thomas, this is Diancie Pure-Spring, she is a prestress of Kynareth and taught me how to better my healing magic.” Diancie laughed at that lightly, “Please Patton, you have Kynareth’s blessing with you, she has a path for you for sure.” she smiled at Thomas. “I noticed you asking about Gildergreen here.”

Thomas nodded as she sighed sadly, “Sadly we don’t know why it is dying, possibly she is too far from her mother, Eldergleam.” she told him sadly, “Many used to come here, but a dead tree isn’t really a sign of healing, huh?”

He frowns at that, “I suppose not, any way to save it?” he asks worriedly, knowing many people held religion close in this area of the empire.  “Sadly, unless we find sap from the original tree, it’s hopeless. And Eldergleam isn’t easy to reach, only one blade could do such a thing. But... hagravens own it.” she shivered a bit in fear and disgust.

She then waved her hand, “Worry not, I’m sure Kynareth will show us what to do.” she tells them then turns, “I best head back, come by some time again Patton, many of the wounded have asked about you. You seem to brighten their day.” Diancie smiled at him as Patton nods before taking her leave.

Thomas then looked up, “I best head back, Eorlund wants me to take a shield to Aela.” he tells Patton. The other nods with a bright smile, that doesn’t quiet reach his eyes. “Sure thing Thomas, see you soon.” he says. Thomas walks off but notices Patton looking at the tree sadly.

He hoped his new friend would be alright.

TAGS:

@5-falsehoods-phonated

[the-big-nope]

Mighty Nein vs. Ripley Swap

Soldiering on through the Vox Machina rewatch, and thanks to @damienchickenspawn, I’ve spent the entirety of “Cloak and Dagger” taking notes for another Party-swap What-If comparison, with the Mighty Nein vs. the Ripley encounter this time. Same rules apply: setting the M9 at an equivalent level (15), ignoring the variability of dice rolls, and accounting for the fact that they had time to prepare spells in advance of the encounter, although less was known about the situation this time, so the spell choice couldn’t be as specific as it was with the Kevdak fight. Fair warning: it gets very long under the cut. Ready? Let’s go.

First off, I have to admit this encounter comparison is much harder to map, because it had two minor combat sections leading up to it (sinking Ripley’s ship and the air elementals on the Glintshore beach). I’m going to assume a similar outcome in combat time and hit points lost, but the resources spent on them is harder to predict due to the differences in characters. At the very least, I’ll assume either Jester, Caduceus, or Caleb has spent their eighth level slot to cast Control Weather like Keyleth did to speed up the airship’s travel, and since they wouldn’t have access to the Keyteor option, the M9 might have just left it up to the airship and basic ranged attacks (maybe a Fireball or two) to take out the boat. However, I will note that following these encounters, since Caduceus often has Prayer of Healing prepped, the M9 would have been able to get a quick bit of healing in with only ten minutes spent. If they aren’t in an immediate chase scenario, this is what they often do between a chain of encounters. 

Now, the meat of this episode is the skirmish with Ripley and her crew on the island. From what I remembered of this fight from the first time I watched it, I recall it being messy as hell and very rough, especially with the giant burst of damage at the start and Ripley popping in and out of combat for most of it. That memory wasn’t incorrect, and I’d forgotten a few elements, like the high level wizard henchman and Orthax joining the fight near the end. With VM, BY FAR the biggest MVPs in this fight were Keyleth and Scanlan. They were the most able to spread damage across multiple targets, Keyleth did some significant damage to the enemy wizard, Scanlan fucked up the whole enemy side with a Reverse Gravity, and they were responsible for keeping their teammates awake and in the fight. The DPSers did their best, but they weren’t focusing fire enough to whittle the numbers down, and Ripley was off the field the majority of the battle and so couldn’t be taken out in order to break the ranks like with Kevdak. Keeping that in mind, let’s first take a look at what the M9 would bring to this encounter as a 15th level party, ranked in order of “Here To Fuck Up Anna Ripley’s Shit.”

1) HOLY SHIT Y’ALL, THE CLERICS. If VM had had their cleric available, it probably would have meant a significant tide turn. The M9 have two, and at 15th level they have so much available to them. At their level, Battle Mercy Jester has access to some wicked damage spells like Blade Barrier, Harm, and Fire Storm, and they both have access to some very powerful support spells: Heal, Heroes’ Feast, Antimagic Field, and (this one I think is particularly up Caduceus/Taliesin’s alley, since it provides major buff and debuff benefits, as well as being one of those spells that would particularly piss off the DM) Holy Aura. Advantage on all saving throws to party members, disadvantage on all attacks against affected party members, and if any fiend or undead (like say, Orthax) hits an affected target, they have to make a Con save or be blinded until the spell ends. Yikes. Even if it was one of the clerics who expended their eighth level slot for Control Weather, they still have a spare who can pull out some powerful tricks along with everything else they already have access to, and thus would probably end up carrying this fight the most.

2) Caleb. While not quite as pivotal as the clerics in terms of MVPing this battle, ol’ Widogast is still scraping in at only two levels below archmage at this point, and he could have some nasty shit available to him, depending on what he takes. 15th level wizards could pick such beauties as Delayed Blast Fireball, Crown of Stars, Prismatic Spray, Reverse Gravity, Forcecage, Antimagic Field, Feeblemind, and Sunburst. Again, accounting for those possible options alongside everything else he already has access to, he could do some absolutely monstrous damage to the enemy team. Of course, aside from all of the fancy new toys, the other part that puts Caleb at second place in terms of enemy hazard is the good old classic, Counterspell. I’ll get into more detail below, but that’s a big one. 

3) Fjord. Our sailor boy will be nine levels into warlock and six levels into paladin at this point, with a paladin oath picked out, Aura of Protection (both Fjord and any ally within 10 feet automatically gains a bonus to a saving throw equal to Fjord’s CHA modifier, which would be a big help against that gunpowder trap at the start), and access to second level paladin spells. Like I said in my last party-swap, Fjord’s just super unpredictable as a fighter. He’s got melee capabilities, arcane spells from both himself and Star Razor, and now a fair reserve of divine casting as well. He’ll have a good bit more Lay on Hands to spread around (30 hp!) as a backup to the clerics, as well as proper healing spells if needed, AND he’ll have access to two Channel Divinity options once he picks an oath. He’s going to have a lot of tools at his disposal to attack or support in whatever way is needed.

4) While the spellcasters really were the pillars of this battle for VM and that would probably hold true for the M9, our DPS girls still deserve some love. Veth would be dealing a Fireball’s worth of sneak attack damage, would have access to 3rd level spells, and could use her mage hand to give herself advantage against a target (if Sam remembers it XD). Beau will have proficiency in ALL saving throws and will likely have bumped up her WIS to boost her Stunning Strike DC. And at this point, Yasha will basically be unkillable; with access to Relentless Rage, Persistent Rage, and Rage Beyond Death, she would need to take her hit point maximum worth of damage in a single hit to be killed outright even at 0 hp. If it’s true that she has recently won her wings back as well, Yasha is going to be a terrifying Valkyrie of unstoppable force.

So, with that summed up, let’s take all that and measure it against the primary factors that made this fight so challenging and memorable for Vox Machina. 

The Gunpowder Trap

Before initiative even started, VM took a big chunk of damage from the gunpowder trap, which I don’t think the M9 would have been able to see coming either. Alarm spells were set up so there would have been no surprising them except on the off chance Caduceus popped a Detect Magic on approach and noticed them; possible, but unlikely. So odds are placed on the M9 taking the initial damage as well. Beau and Nott have a good chance of escaping with no damage, since they have Evasion, Caleb can automatically halve damage with his Ring of Evasion, and Yasha has advantage on Dex saves so she has a better chance as well. However, Fjord, Jester, and Caduceus have no benefits in this situation and aren’t particularly dextrous, so they’re likely taking full damage at the outset. Fjord has Aura of Protection which would give him a +5 bonus to any save, as well as any allies within 10ft, but this trio is still the most likely to get hit hardest. Luckily, they’re on the upper half of the M9′s hardiness scale, so while the damage isn’t small, it doesn’t put them in danger yet. Then combat begins properly.

Ripley

Probably the most problematic feature of this combat was Ripley’s Blink spell and VM’s inability to pin her down or figure out what was going on with her. Her crew were mercenaries, so if Ripley had gone down they likely wouldn’t have continued to fight, but as long as she was up, the fight continued. Watching the episode again, it seems like Matt lingered over the moment where Ripley cast the spell, as if waiting to see if someone was going to counter it. Scanlan was the only one capable of doing it in VM, and whether Sam was distracted, Scanlan didn’t want to burn the spell slot, or some other reason, he didn’t counter it. I feel like the M9 is more trigger happy with the counterspells; they can afford to be, since both Caleb and Fjord can do it, and potentially even Veth if she takes it as one of her 3rd level spells, making the chance of the Blink getting countered much higher. However, even if Ripley had managed to get it off, the M9 have knowledge VM didn’t. Both Jester and Fjord can cast Blink themselves and might be able to recognize it much sooner. That would mean fewer turns wasted hunting for an invisible Ripley and more time concentrating on her allies, or else clustering up near where she would reappear and holding actions ala the Inevitable End fight. Still a difficult element to work around, but better for their action economy and it makes Ripley more predictable. She does have Cabal’s Ruin (the awakened version I think), so she would be able to halve damage on one spell and boost her damage, but that’s only once per short rest. She could manage one huge damage burst if she used her turn, action surge, and the cloak charges all in one go, which could be pretty bad for a single party member. 

The Adds

There aren’t nearly as many mooks involved in this fight as in the Kevdak one, but they pack plenty of punch to make up for it. The mage was by far the biggest threat out of all of them, being capable of casting up to 7th level spells. Both his Prismatic Spray and Chain Lightning did significant damage to Scanlan, Percy, and Keyleth, making the situation more frantic with VM constantly trying to stay on top of their low HP. The Goliath fighter ended up being a non-entity because she didn’t even get a hit off. The gunners did their share of damage, but were probably the lowest threat on the field. As with the Kevdak fight, Caleb would be highly beneficial in doing collective damage to groups at a time (Fireball, Web of Fire, maybe a high level spell like Prismatic Spray or Delayed Blast Fireball if he wanted to clear them quick), similar to how Scanlan used his wand of fireballs to hit the gunners. The ability to counterspell or otherwise incapacitate the mage is also vital, since he dealt out a good portion of the damage, so I could see Caleb’s attention being split there. The big damage spells the mage dished out did require Dex saves though, so the same likelihood of success rules from the gunpowder trap still apply. Like Grog, I could see Yasha focusing on the goliath fighter, while Beau and Nott could get up on the gunners. How well this all goes depends on how well they can shrink the damage from the mage, while making sure the clerics are up and in the right position to heal and support.

Kynan

Kynan is a unique but significant factor in this fight. He did a fair bit of damage, knocked out Keyleth once, and kept Vax distracted for a number of rounds trying to talk to him. In the big picture, I question whether Kynan would have become a factor at all if this was the M9. He ended up with Ripley because Vox Machina, or primarily Vax, rejected him, a little harshly but not maliciously or without reason. The M9 can be blunt and even rude with NPCs, but I don’t see any of them taking a similar approach in that situation. They toted baby Kiri around with them through several dangerous locations and gave her a knife. They had Calianna sign a gag waiver and said they weren’t responsible for her dying if she tagged along with them, and generally they’re inclined to make friends at the drop of a hat. Even if someone like Kynan did approach them, they probably wouldn’t respond in the same way Vax did. However, since I’m using the battle scenario as it happened, we’ll say Kynan is there regardless. Of all the M9, Caleb or Jester seem like the most likely people to pause and try to talk him down. On the one hand, Caleb has a higher charisma than Vax and Jester is Jester, so they’re more likely to persuade him sooner to stand down. On the other hand, they’re also less likely to sacrifice their whole turns to devote their attention to him, so that might hurt their chances. If they fail, he plays the same role in the fight, with perhaps a higher chance of being more ruthlessly targeted by Yasha and Fjord, who don’t think favorably of betrayal. 

The Terrain

This was a relatively minor factor in comparison to those above, but the rough terrain, the big crater, and the damage taken from the glass did eat through movement and HP. Unavoidable in most cases, but can be mitigated by most of the members to whom it would matter. Beau’s a zippy girl, so she can reach any point on the battlefield at the cost of some HP. If Yasha has her wings, it becomes almost a non-factor for her. Poor Veth is the only one really stuck with it, but she’s ranged, so even then it wouldn’t hamper her too much. 

Orthax

Funnily enough, Orthax was probably the least significant factor in this fight, at least on a broad scale. He came out a few rounds in, the sunlight lowered his AC and put his attacks at disadvantage, and he didn’t get many shots in at VM. He has the ability to cause PCs to attack each other, but it’s a rechargeable ability, seems to only affect melee attacks, and doesn’t sustain. He did take two death saves off of Percy and made him waste his last bullet on friendly fire that might otherwise have gone to Ripley, but in a macro scale he wasn’t much of a threat. Against a party with two clerics and a padlock, he’d probably have an even harder time. Just flick a Banishment his way, or a solid 5th level divine smite, and he ceases to be a problem. 

Conclusion

I think the most important factor of the M9 coming off well in this fight would be the ability to focus fire in the right places, ensure the mage can’t deal major group damage, and to protect their clerics. They’ve shown a reasonable ability to pull that off if they’re on a straight battlefield and all together, and as long as their rolls for saves and counters aren’t abysmal, I could again see the M9 coming out of this encounter much more smoothly than VM, their higher percentage of spellcasters being the biggest factor in tipping the scales. Not to mention, even if someone dies, the M9 are almost always ready for that situation. VM had just come from Ank’Harel, a large city, and the M9 make it a point to get stocked on diamonds whenever they have some downtime. Plus, at this level, they would have three party members capable of resurrecting a fallen teammate, with Caleb using his 14th level Transmuter’s Stone ability. The fight against Ripley and her crew would definitely require more brainpower, and depending on their luck could be just as difficult if not more so than it was for VM, but with the right rolls on their side, their wide variety of unpredictable tools, and plenty of healing available to keep the team up, the M9 would probably have this fight in the bag too. 

(Side note: I wonder if the outcomes of these two party-swaps I’ve done have more to do with the players being more experienced and accustomed to working as a unit after all their time playing together, or if it has to do with party composition and how Matt constructs the encounters to challenge them personally. I’m sure both factor in at least a little, but I might have to do VM in one of the M9′s fights at some point just to see. There’s a lot fewer to pick from, since the M9 are still just catching up to the levels we met VM in, and projecting forward is easier than taking levels off of the characters, but I guess we’ll see. If you read through this chonk, I hope it was worth it!)

[complicatedandstained]

The Other Day at Hot Topic: Lexaeus

Axel hadn’t intended to follow Saïx’s newest recruit to work, but he had been almost done with his Starbucks when he saw him passing by, so he said to himself: Why not? Before he knew it he was ducking into Hot Topic only a few minutes behind.

Now Lex looks kind of like he wants to backhand the petite blonde twenty something standing in front of him so hard he flies into Clearance. So Axel figures he made the right call.

The new guy had looked a little overwhelmed when Axel had left him to the sharks at a staff meeting the other day, and maybe it’s his short stature and painstakingly messy hair, but Axel feels an unusually protective urge sweep through him on sight.

“Take the phone and step aside,” Lex all but growls at the wide-eyed blonde dude blocking his path out from behind the register and more significantly, out of Hot Topic.

It’s not exactly a fair fight, Axel muses, slowly and expertly navigating the narrow aisles between movie, tv show, and anime displays, eyes on the real drama unfolding.

Lex has a few inches on Axel’s six feet and spends his free time bodybuilding, like, for fun. He absolutely dwarfs the angel faced blonde, drowning in a black tunic length shirt for a band Axel doesn’t hate, his twig legs wrapped in shredded, skinny white jeggings. It was like a mountain squaring off against an adorable woodland creature.

“I want to, but you can’t expect me to stay here by myself,” the blonde objects, tenor more or less level, hands splaying open in emphasis, left wrist in a black and white checkered cuff. “It’s literally my first day.”

“Look,” Lex takes a breath to calm himself and sets a hand on his hip, “I’ve already stayed a half hour past my shift and there’s nobody here.” His other hand gestures to the aisles, but neither look, well aware that much like the rest of the mall, Hot Topic has been dead for the better part of the Tuesday morning.

The blonde’s brows furrow.  “What if somebody comes in?”

Lex rolls his eyes, gesturing vaguely. “Just tell them the register’s broken. It’s what Demyx always does.”

“Please.” What’s his name grows increasingly distressed, realizing Lex is about to jump ship whether he wants him to or not. “I don’t want to get fired on my first day.”

Lex’s signature solemn frown flickers in amusement. “There’s no one here to fire you.” He shoulders a little roughly past the blonde blocking his way but looks back as a thin croak escapes the guy’s throat. “I’m sorry, Roxas. I need to go.”

Roxas, Axel makes a mental note. That was it.

“So long, Lexaeus,” calls Axel, leaning up against the band tees, not five feet from the register.

Lex groans, and Roxas glances between the two.

“I take it back,” Lex says, turning to Roxas. “He can get us fired with a snap of his fingers.”

Axel smiles broadly and it feels unpleasant, so he can’t imagine how it looks. “Vexen deserved it.”

Lex stands and awaits his orders. Despite what he did, Vexen had been his friend, but Axel wasn’t someone to get into it with. Not with Saïx at his beck and call. Lex has places to be but he doesn’t want to risk his job. People his size and build with a resting expression that radiates “I could kill you in your sleep” likely have a fair bit of trouble on the job market. Axel takes all this in within moments.

“Go,” Axel’s expression softens and he flutters his fingers toward the cave-like store entrance that has always reminded him of a gateway to hell, “I’ve got it covered.”

“Are…” Lex starts forward right away, but then stops, checks himself. Axel’s not known for being straightforward about things, “are you sure?”

“Yep,” Axel claps his hands together, nodding toward their new coworker, “get outta here before you bruise Rox’s pretty face.”

Roxas’ fingers fly to his cheek and he seems surprised by his own reaction, flushing slightly pink.

Lex’s voice takes on a hard edge and he turns on his heel. “I don’t do that shit anymore.”

Axel blinks, reaching out to grasp his shoulder. “I know, buddy.” Lex freezes, and Axel drops his hand. “It’s okay. Go. I’ll tell Saïx you went above and beyond the call of duty.”   

Lex nods, which feels pretty intimate, coming from Lex. “...Thanks.”

Axel watches Lex clock out and stalk out before turning his attention to the small blonde, hovering beside him, shuffling in his oversized combat boots. “So, Roxas,” he waits a second for a response, but Roxas doesn’t seem eager to give one, “day one, huh?”

Roxas nods wearily, and Axel supposes that’s fair.

Talk about a stressful first shift. Especially with Saïx running the show. Eeesh.  Merciful he is not.

“Alright. Let’s see who’s supposed to be on the schedule with you.” Axel steps behind the register and pulls out a binder with shift information, simultaneously pulling out his cell and tapping a couple buttons.

His nose scrunches as he scans the lines. “Vanitas and… Demyx? Together?” He makes a face at Roxas, half sour, half amused, but Roxas doesn’t seem to have a firm enough grasp on anyone’s names to react properly. “No fucking wonder… Oh, hold on, it’s Saïx.” At his ear his phone stops ringing and an automated voice recites Saïx’s number and beeps.

“Hey, babe,” Axel’s voice turns to a low purr, and he notes Roxas’ narrowing eyes with amusement, “sexy voicemail message, as always. Hate to interrupt pilates, but I’m kinda in a tight spot here.” Axel pauses and uses two fingers to lift Roxas’ chin and thereby close his gaping mouth. Saïx has a sense of humor, but he doesn’t let a lot of people talk to him the way Axel does.

“Stopped by Hot Topic to check on your new kid and lo and behold, nobody’s here!” Axel glances down at the binder again. “It’s a little hard to read, but it looks like Xal scheduled the Devil Child and Band Geek together, which was, you must admit, a shit decision. Lex stayed late, because he’s the man, but I sent him off, ‘cause it’s dead as a doornail in here.” He glances at his watch and winces. Hopefully it’d stay that way.

He sighs melodramatically, knowing it will amuse the man on the other end, “Anyways, I’m happy to show Pop Rox here the ropes until somebody can get their ass in here, and I’ll make a few calls, but, uh, we’d love to see your smiling face soon. Ta ta now.”        

Roxas raises an eyebrow at Axel, who wonders if it’s about the impromptu nickname or his blithe words to Saïx. He opts to pretend it’s neither.

“Okay, so, I’ll text some people, see who we can sucker into coming in. Either way, Sai should be here all hot and bothered in fifteen, and you’re stuck with me until then. Guess we oughta get you started though, huh?” The blonde still looks a little dazed, so Axel smiles, welcoming. Better start with the basics, then. “You clocked in?”

Roxas looks almost bashful, shakes his head. “Uh-uh.” “Okay, to the clocktower!” Axel turns on his booted heel and begins to lead him to the storage room in the very back, rambling a bit, to ease the tension, “Well, it’s not really a tower, but it does sound more exciting, right?”

Axel glances back to Roxas who scrunches his nose but grins, almost.

“Hey.” Axel abruptly stops walking and Roxas near bumps into him. “You’re like in zombie mode, here kid, what’s up? You a Walker?”

“Uh, it’s just,” Roxas pockets his hands and Axel notes his nails, half scraped off black polish. He can’t help but find it cute, if stereotypical. “Uh, I know we met before, but I don’t really know… who you are?”

“Ah. Name’s Axel.” He smirks and pokes Roxas lightly in the temple. “Memorize it.” Explanation granted, Axel turns and again begins to work his way back to the door marked ‘STAFF’ in the furthest corner of the shop.

“I take it this is not your shift,” Roxas continues, uncertainty watering down his tone.

Axel laughs, hard, wondering if Roxas really doesn’t know Axel isn’t even an employee, really hasn’t deduced his relationship with Saïx. “Definitely not, no. But you looked like you could use a friend.”

Roxas gives him another almost smile, but his eyebrows betray him, dipping lower. “So you like, help Saïx run the store?”

Axel snorts as the Saïx in his head cringes. “More like I help Saïx run his life.” He pauses to punch in the code to the back door, 0-7-0-8, and props it open with his foot. “But yeah, I’ll be around. C’mon, you survive this shift and I’ll get you cake or something.”

Roxas smiles for the first time, swift and iridescent. “My white knight,” he quips and Axel, shocked and amused by the sarcasm, represses an urge to tuck him under his arm and ruffle up his perfectly mussed hair.

“Hey, this is Hot Topic. No white knight nonsense. It’s more like…” Axel fumbles for anything vaguely resembling it, leaning on his elbow in the doorway in faux contemplation, “dark... rescue.”

Roxas giggles—straight up giggles and nudges Axel’s arm, slipping under it and into the back. “That’s not better.”

“No,” Axel nudges Roxas’ back in return and grins, “it’s absolutely not.”

[navek15]

Comics are Awesome! 4/19 week

More often than not, I have seen people who do nothing but complain about comics. They seem to take one example of a comic they don’t like and then proceed to paint the entire medium with broad strokes, saying stuff like; ‘Comics haven’t been good since this era.” “This comic ruined my childhood!” “I’m going to boycott this company because they printed I comic I don’t like.” Now don’t misinterpret this into me being a blind optimist. I’m well aware that DC and Marvel do make crap. Sometimes they bank on crap. But I like to think that those are the exception rather than the rule. So, from now on, I figured I might as well start a weekly blog explaining some of the most awesome stuff I’ve seen in the comics I pick up each week, why I think they’re awesome, and any comic-related news that has me excited. Let’s start with Secret Empire #0, the first shot fired in Marvel’s newest summer blockbuster event (and if the statement in a previous interview is to be believed, their last big event for at least 18 months after its finished). And I can sum up this issue in two words; HOLY SHIT!!!!! This book shows how much more impactful a big event can be when you actually bother to set stuff up. It’s the accumulation of everything Nick Spencer’s been setting up since Captain America: Sam Wilson #1. To summarize what happens in this book, evil Kobik brain-washed Steve Rogers has cut off the Ultimates, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Alpha Flight from Earth and left them at the mercy of a seemingly endless Chitauri invasion, all of the street-level heroes in Manhattan have been cut off from the world thanks to a mystically-charged Blackout (I love the callback and expansion to one of my favorite Avengers stories of all time), and now he has full-control of SHIELD, the US Military, and all of Hydra! My god, we haven’t seen such an effective takeover of the Earth since the fucking Kang Dynasty! And keep in mind, this was all in Issue 0. Consider me hyped! Speaking of the Chitauri Wave, the heroes of Earth were not the first ones to encounter it. No, the first Earth Heroes to face the wave was the Inhuman cast of Royals in their second issue. Really, this issue exists just to show how awesome the Inhumans and Noh-Vahr are. We got Marvel Boy being usually awesome and cocky self with wicked cool Grant Morrison tech, Crystal, Captain Swain, and Gorgon showing off their own skills in space combat, Medusa leading the team even after dropping the bombshell about her dying condition, and to top it all off, Flint uses PLUTO AS A BATTERING RAM TO WIPE OUT AN ENTIRE SWARM OF CHITAURI!!!! Top it all off with a twist I never saw coming (and resolved my confusion on the premise of the new Black Bolt comic), and we have yet another example of why Al Ewing is my favorite writer in modern comics. Stay the course, you mad englishman! And while we’re on the subject of Al Ewing, U.S.Avengers #5 came out as one of the three Opening Salvo tie-ins to Secret Empire. This issue is light on action aside from two side-missions Cannonball, Red Hulk and Squirrel Girl are taking part in and was more character focused. From a tense conversation between Bobby and Steve Rogers (which made me worried considering the cover for issue 6), Sam contemplating his family’s future, and a nice little moment between Toni and Aikku (these two are adorable). While not the most headlining book, I still enjoy it each month. Now we move from Marvel to DC for Green Lanterns #21 and the conclusion of the three-part Polarity story. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m a fan of Sam Humphries and that Green Lanterns was the DC Rebirth book I was the most excited for back when Rebirth was announced. And it has been my favorite DC Rebirth book! Seeing Jessica Cruz rise past her anxiety to be a hero and her interaction with her partner Simon Baz has been one of the greatest ongoing stories each month. And this week, we got into Simon’s head and how seeing someone you love can make the entire world feel silent, a look into the psyche of Dr. Polaris (who I hope makes more appearances in later issues), and had Simon and Jessica using their rings to stop the Justice League Watchtower from crashing into a city! Superwoman got a new writer in the form of Kate Perkins with Issue 9. I’ve never read anything she’s written, but from what I’ve seen, she’s got a good grasp on Lana Lang. And I’ve been following Lana’s story since her reintroduction in Greg Pak’s Action Comics run, so I’ll continue to follow on as long I can. So good luck, Ms. Perkins. But probably the biggest news coming out of DC this week is something that was just announced this morning. Earlier today, DC has revealed a series of books spinning out of the fall event (since the actually comic starts in August) Dark Nights: Metal. This line, called Dark Matter, will be comics that are fully in-canon with the DCU. But the really cool thing about these books is that (aside from two titles named after a previous DC character and team) these are all brand-new characters and concepts not based on anything ever seen before in the DC Universe with top talented writers and artists behind the wheel. In case anyone is wonder which book I’m adding to my monthly pull list (I’ve budgeted myself for only 10 comics from DC, 10 comics from Marvel and anything that catches my attention at Valiant with events being the exception), The Immortal Men by James Tynion IV and Jim Lee is what I’m picking up, although all of these books sound awesome. That’s all for this week! Until next time, remember the words of Bill & Ted and be excellent to each other. Comics are Awesome and so are you guys!

[imaginemycroftholmes]

Mycroft Submission Form

I saw the new updated form and had to try it out.

Name: Melissa

Nationality: American

Age: 22

Personality Type: INFP/ENFP (I switch back and forth depending on the day/weather)

Level of Education: 4 years of College, still working on my Bachelors for Animal Health Science

Best Subject: Art, History, Psychology/Social Studies, English

Worst Subject: Chemistry (Any science class really) and Math (was my best subject, until they added the alphabet to the numbers)

Favorite Subject: Art, Karate, Textiles and Home Economics

5 Hobbies (if applicable): Drawing, playing video games, cooking (lots of steak and lamb), baking (cookies are a specialty), sewing and watching TV

Favorite Genre of Music/Movies/Books: Movies: Anything but horror/suspense, Music: Mostly Country but pretty eclectic (no jazz/screamo/or other heavy metal), and Books: I dare say that I don’t read. Like at all, but I love the original Grimm Fairytales.

Last song you listened to on repeat: “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors

Last phrase you said to another living person: “I got burned by Holy Water once while at the Vatican.”

How many blankets do you sleep with: Just 1, my “Clown” blanket (but really it’s a crying opera singer holding a rose, that’s been in the family for 30+ years. I do sleep with like 6-7 pillows though)

7 note worthy skills: Loyal, Altruistic, Kind, Compassionate, quiet (yes I consider this a good trait), very open-minded, and strong (physically I mean, mentally is up for debate)

7 noticeable sins: I’ll admit I’m lazy, somewhat immature (I swear a lot and my favorite is the F word), I do procrastinate, I am food aggressive, a wee bit selfish and show no mercy to backstabbers, bullies or people who just annoy me (a kick to the groin, a harsh, tear-inducing insult, a dark secret exposed or get them in trouble with a teacher.)

Allergies/impairments/illnesses: I have what I’d like to call illness-induced asthma, and I am near sighted and have to wear glasses, but no allergies at all.

Level of Intelligence on a scale of 1 to 5: 4 (Just above average, but I’m no Einstein)

Level of Fitness on a scale of 1 to 5: 1-2 (currently dieting and exercising, but I love food too much)

Level of Attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5: I think 2, but everyone else says 4 (liars).

Feline, canine or both: Canine (loyal) and Feline (keep to myself)

Confidence Level on a scale from 1 to 5: 2-3 (1 on bad days, but hardly ever higher than a 3)

Position in the Family (oldest, youngest, middle): Only child, so oldest (I never had to share my toys!)

Eye Color: Brown (Always wanted blue eyes or green)

Hair Color and Length: Long, brown, wavy hair (I hate it. Get’s frizzy in dry/humid weather and gets burning how in the summer, but I can’t cut cause I don’t look good with short hair)

Height: 5’ 2” (Short. So very short, but have so many tall friends)

Combat level on a scale 1 to 5: 2 (currently in Karate)

Your normal dress: A pair of worn blue jeans, a loose fitting T-shirt, a Zip-up Hoodie, a good pair of socks and an old pair of running shoes (with insoles cause I have no arch)

How well you take rejection on a scale of 1 to 5: 5 (I’ve been rejected numerous times)

Languages known: English, currently learning Esperanto and Spanish

Cleanliness of your bathroom on a scale of 1 to 5: 4, would be a 5 but I have a roommate who’s messy

How big is your circle of friends on a scale of 1 to 5: 2, not fond of big groups.

How would you rate your mental health on a scale of 1 to 5: 3-4 (I can get depressed easily on bad days)

Opinions on the current Holmes family members (Siger Holmes, Violet Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and Eurus Holmes): Sherlock is cool and I like his intelligence, his violin sills, and he’s pretty good looking, despite him being a bit, well rude or too honest. As for Siger and Violet, I haven’t met them or got to know them but I’m sure they’re lovely (if they’re your parents, I’m sorry for not realizing that, I’d just like to say that they are what I would want for grandparents, they are so sweet, I love them.) Eurus, I feel that she had so much potential, but I really don’t know how to feel about her. On one hand I am just as impressed with her intelligence and skills as I am with Sherlock, but I’m also pretty terrified of her.

Please bold the following below that applies toward your submission:

Friendship (You will be smothered with gifts but will ask for nothing in return)

Mentorship (Need time to learn, but can I will get the idea)

Relationship (If you’re up for it, then I’ll give it a try)

Partnership (So like be the John to your Sherlock?)

The Question portion:

Please note that you do not have to submit the pictures within your submission (save the puzzle) but you must answer them honestly and do so without cheating.

1)

The angle of C looks to be 45 degrees, while A and B ~15 and ~30 degrees. There’s no attempt at math on this one, just looking at the pictures, I can assume the angles A and B add up to C.

2) Solve the puzzle:

First off I love Sudoku, I play it whenever I get the chance. Couldn’t figure out how to write on the pic so: (This one was a good one, had to really sit and work on it for a like an hour)

            812       753       649

            943       682       175

            675       491       283

            154       237       896

            369       845       721

            287       169       534

            521       974       368

            438       526       917

            796       318       452

3)

Don’t know, and Cheryl is being really “extra” as the kids say now, by not saying what her birthday is, I would have not given her a gift.

4)

Shoot Mr. White. I don’t know but he hits his shots all the time I’d at least try and hit him.

5)

Change the first plus sign into a 4 (545 + 5 + 5 = 555) 

6)

He can’t reach the button for the 10th floor in the elevator so he has wait till there are more people to press the button for him.

7)

Seen this one too. You pick two switches to turn on, one stays off, after waiting a bit, pick one of the switches that is on and then go into the room. If the light is on then it’s the switch still on, if off, touch the bulb, cold=the switch that was always off, warm=the one that was on then turned off.

8)

Don’t care. These gods sound like dicks.

9)

Why can’t he just go to Mary’s house and give her the ring? John is lazy and illogical, that is my deduction. I don’t know.

10)

Flip it upside down and it’s 87. Seen this one before too.

11)

I don’t know! This is the kind of riddle that makes me want to hit the creator in the face. Hints would be nice too.

12)

Alex is screwed. He jumps, he dead. He somehow survives, he’s burned or he starves, he dead.

13)

A. Anne could be married or not. If she is married and looking at George then yes, a married person is looking at an unmarried person, but if she’s not married the its still yes, cause Jack is married.

14)

Nope. Math was not my best subject.

15)

1? No clue.

16)

This type of math I can do, n=10. (10^2 - 10 - 90 = 0)

17)

Vince did it but I’d say “you’re all paying for the new window, I don’t care who broke it.”

18) Where does the English horn (Cor Anglais) come from? I’m assuming not England. Cor Anglais is French, but I doubt it’s from France. I don’t know.

19) What is brass composed of? Copper and Zinc

20) Who was the FIRST great artist that contributed to the Italian Renaissance? Masaccio. Thanks Art History!

21)

No.

22)

Don’t know but I known that I wouldn’t be at that party.

23)

How about nope

24) Is the dress blue and black or white and gold?

Blue and Black and I never want to here about this dress again. I hate dresses and I hated this meme when it came out on the news.

25)

I had to read this damn thing like 6 times, but I figured it out! There is no letter “e” in the entire thing. Kind of cool given that “e” is the most common letter used in the English language.

(I liked this submission form. It’s defiantly more challenging and has to do with a lot more problem solving than the last one. I like puzzles and some of these really made me think.)

Mycroft’s answer:

Melissa, I must say that I have heard many odd phrases in my lifetime both directly and in passing but never something akin to ‘I got burned with Holy Water once while at the Vatican' even with faulty translations at best. I would assume their would be a good story in correlation with that statement? I find it refreshing that you can take rejection so well despite stating that this is a regular occurrence for you. It takes a lot of time and practice for something like that not to effect you anymore and in the few times that I have been on the brunt end it does still carry a sting for me. But in private mind you as I cannot have my competitors or coworkers see me in a state of disarray. While I cannot say with any true glee that I have always been for the sciences ( my heart has always been on external things that tend to change more rapidly and could be controlled at a faster rate) than what concerns the inner workings of the human body much less than that of an animal however, I do have some know how about avian species and reptiles as Sherlock was wont to play with them. I am quite pleased that you attempted the puzzle and even more so that it is correct. My only issue is that if I took you up on a partnership is that you cannot be vindictive toward clients in a direct way. As a partnership with me would include dealing with some rather self-centered diplomats or government officials I'm afraid that in any instance of 'wrong doing' we would simply grin and bear it until the proper time comes to exploit it for personal gain. You can't exactly run the world if you burn too many bridges and make far too many enemies and you can see that with Mr. Moriarty's circles as well.  You may not be too fond of the partnership considering on how  big these meetings tend to run but rest assured we do need more  Esperanto speakers. Just remember that in public everything must be clean and pristine which includes talk, work and the like but in private I will find no complaints from me. 

Friendship: 8.6/10

Mentorship: 8.1/10

Relationship: 6.79/10

Partnership: 7.56/10

[hdawg1995]

DnD Antics: no need to ask where your god is. hes right here! and hes fresh out of mercy.

the wrecking crew is BACK after many many MANY delays. after saving slagadawn from dying and being controlled by agathaw he decides we need the power of the gods.....

and to gain the power of the gods, one must FIGHT THE GODS!

so we went though ideas again and instead of choosing 1 idea we thought of 40 more really bad ideas including but not limited to: spawing a universe worth of turaqxs inside of agathaw.

alicaria scrys on slagadawn and and hes being attacked near death. after healing him and keeping agathaw at bay for a second he teleports to us and then takes us to olmpus. (envoy brought cookies).

and umm.... yeeeaaahhhh we fought our respective deities o_O the rules are knock out or ring out, and we’ve been buffed so that we can survive the battle.

the first to fight is vale VS boris, he OG bear who became the 13th celestial zodiac on The Hunt. it was hella epic but also really like heart wrenching i think? vale had to kill her bear twice. he ended up getting a ring out cause Vale upper cutted him with a tree. after wards she started a cuddle pile with all her animal companions and boris.

round two was a game of Elizander vs Damian. like a legit game of chess. rock paper scissors or get stabbed and commanded to move on the board. Elizader won because he figured out “A,0″ is a place you can move a token in chess. Damin was upset he figured it out but was a good sport about it.

if i remember right round three was envoy vs The Blue Flying Moose. “I lobe you, you’ve been there my whole life, i am not going to hold back, i refuse to let you down!” and Envoy proceeded to win with love and tackle hugged the moose to death. 

next round was Alicaria vs her mother, which resulted in the battle feild turning into a snow globe and Sam dealing enough damage where the DM was like”i’m not even gonna make you roll damage”. 

then we had silly q vs the god of mon-.... i mean a high boccobe... (earlier rick and morty showed up because Spine needed help and Rick gave Spine litteral celestial holy crystal meth. he gave it to yeethan who shared it with boccobe)

boccobe: hey old man slagadawn: yes bocobe? boccobe: thought you said dis was one on one! Slagadawn: it is one on- Boccobe: THERES FIVE OF HER! slagadawn: you are fucked up boccobe.

Silly Q won via ring out. also Boccobe was going to drop the moon on her and after he lost he de spelled the moon.  the moon you guys. we have no moon.

after that it was Spine vs Yeethan. godzilla was summoned. it died not even a round later. it got really really close and down to the line (legit) and but Spine won via ring out as well.

and then we fought moridan. spine got a ring out and i was able to move him but killed alicaria in the process. elizander got turned into paste and one by one we either got ring out or knocked out. then silly Q cast a spell that takes away a god’s ability to affect the world and just pushed him out.

everyone leveled. the party is level29. the gods think envoy’s cookies are pretty good... and slagadawn dies, giving the wrecking crew his power.

next session: The Final Game. will the wrecking crew save the universe, or will Slagadawn’s gift and sacrifice go in vain, leading to the destruction of this world?