#multi point inspection form

[mtsdmecc]

Understanding Multi-Point Inspection Forms: A Simple Guide

Have you ever taken your car to a mechanic and wondered what they do during a service? One crucial tool they use is the multi-point inspection form. This form helps mechanics check various parts of your vehicle to ensure everything is working well. In this article, we'll explore what a multi-point inspection form is, why it's essential, and how it helps keep your car in great shape. We'll also talk about the related term multipoint inspection sheet, which is often used interchangeably with the multi-point inspection form.

What is a Multi-Point Inspection Form?

A multi point inspection form is a checklist that mechanics use to evaluate a vehicle's condition. It typically covers multiple areas of the car, allowing the mechanic to assess everything from the engine to the brakes. The purpose of this form is to provide a comprehensive overview of the car's health, helping both the mechanic and the vehicle owner understand what needs attention.

Why is the Multi-Point Inspection Important?

1. Safety First

One of the most important reasons for a multi-point inspection is safety. Mechanics check essential components, such as brakes, tyres, and lights, to ensure they are functioning correctly. If any of these parts are faulty, it can lead to dangerous situations on the road. By identifying issues early, you can avoid accidents and keep yourself and others safe.

2. Preventative Maintenance

A multi-point inspection is a form of preventative maintenance. Regular inspections help catch minor problems before they turn into major repairs. For example, if a mechanic notices worn brake pads during an inspection, they can recommend replacing them before they cause damage to the brake system. This proactive approach can save you time and money in the long run.

3. Enhanced Vehicle Longevity

Cars are significant investments, and you want yours to last as long as possible. By regularly using a multi-point inspection form, you can keep track of your car's condition and address issues as they arise. This not only helps maintain the value of your vehicle but also prolongs its lifespan. Regular maintenance checks can help keep your engine running smoothly and your tyres in good shape.

What Does a Multi-Point Inspection Form Include?

A multi-point inspection form usually includes various sections that cover different parts of the vehicle. Here's a breakdown of what you might find on this form:

1. Engine Check

The mechanic will examine the engine for leaks, inspect the belts and hoses, and assess fluid levels. They may also check the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid to ensure everything is topped off and in good condition.

2. Brake System

Brakes are crucial for safety. The form will include a section for checking the brake pads, rotors, and fluid levels. The mechanic will look for any signs of wear and make recommendations if necessary.

3. Tires

Tire health is another essential part of a multi-point inspection. The mechanic will check the tread depth and look for any signs of damage, like bulges or punctures. Proper tyre maintenance can improve fuel efficiency and ensure safe driving.

4. Lights and Electrical Systems

The inspection will include checking all lights, including headlights, taillights, turn signals, and brake lights. The mechanic will also evaluate the battery and electrical connections to ensure everything is functioning correctly.

5. Suspension and Steering

The suspension and steering systems affect how your car handles on the road. The mechanic will inspect these systems to ensure everything is in good working order.

6. Fluid Levels

In addition to checking individual fluids like oil and coolant, the mechanic will look at transmission fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and windshield washer fluid. Proper fluid levels are vital for the smooth operation of your vehicle.

How to Use a Multi-Point Inspection Form

1. Choose a Reputable Mechanic

Not all mechanics offer multi-point inspections, so it's essential to find a reputable shop that does. Ask friends or family for recommendations or look for online reviews to find a trusted mechanic in your area.

2. Request an Inspection

When you take your car in for service, ask the mechanic to perform a multi-point inspection. Many service centres offer this as part of routine maintenance, such as oil changes.

3. Review the Results

After the inspection, the mechanic will review the results with you. They highlight areas that need immediate attention and those that can wait. Make sure to ask questions if you don't understand something.

4. Plan for Repairs

Based on the inspection results, you can prioritize repairs. If the mechanic points out a serious issue, it's essential to address it right away. For less urgent matters, you can create a maintenance plan to take care of them in the near future.

The Benefits of a Multipoint Inspection Sheet

The multipoint inspection sheet is essentially the same as the multi-point inspection form, but it may be used in different contexts or by other service centres. This sheet serves the same purpose: to ensure that all critical aspects of your vehicle are checked during a service. Having a clear and detailed multipoint inspection sheet helps mechanics communicate findings effectively and gives vehicle owners a better understanding of their car's condition.

Common Questions About Multi-Point Inspections

1. How often should I have a multi-point inspection?

It's a good idea to have a multi-point inspection at least once a year or every time you take your car in for routine maintenance, like an oil change. This ensures that your vehicle remains in top shape.

2. Do I need to pay for a multi-point inspection?

Some mechanics offer free multi-point inspections as part of their services, especially when you pay for other maintenance. However, others may charge a fee, so it's always good to ask upfront.

3. What if my mechanic finds issues during the inspection?

If your mechanic finds problems, they will typically explain the issues and provide recommendations for repairs. You can decide which repairs to prioritize based on your budget and safety needs.

Conclusion: Keep Your Car Running Smoothly

A multi-point inspection form is a valuable tool that helps keep your vehicle safe and running efficiently. Regular inspections not only help identify potential problems but also promote preventative maintenance, ultimately extending the life of your car. Whether you're a car enthusiast or just someone who relies on your vehicle, understanding the importance of multi-point inspections is crucial.

Next time you take your car to the shop, remember to ask for a multi-point inspection. This simple step can make a big difference in your vehicle's performance and safety. Knowing what a multi-point inspection entails, you can feel confident in maintaining your vehicle's health and addressing any issues that arise.

[endursent]

- God Shattering Star

【 content; morax | rex lapis x reader , slow burn , mutual pining , multi-chapter , archon war period , afab!reader 】

【 note; i need to stop saying "dw guys next chapter wont take that long!" every time i do i get pulverised by a boulder | read on ao3 】

【 word count; 6.305 | previous chapter - next chapter | masterlist 】

- Chapter 13 - Dissolution

Your poor forehead was itchy the entire day following “the incident”, it didn’t bruise nor form a  large bump, thankfully, but you still felt sore if you pressed on it… 

  “It looks fine, just be glad it didn’t poke your eye out, idiot,” Ming Hui says after having tugged your head down to inspect it. She’s thankfully not mad at you anymore, not after you offered her both the youtiao—about four boxes of it, four sticks in each… she berated you for the number of them for a few minutes but seemed satisfied when you offered to take one box for yourself. 

  You straighten again after she inspected it, and wonder if you should tie a ribbon around your forehead to cover the small raise of your skin. “I didn’t sit under its trajectory on purpose,” you grumble—how are you the idiot for a branch falling on your head? You don’t have the reflexes to knock it away or dodge… if anything, you just sat there and watched it plonk down towards you. 

  She turns around to grab some bottles off the table behind her, setting them on a tray before walking past you—while you’ve been… otherwise occupied, Ming Hui has been studying medicine and healing arts under Ground Mender. You feel a bit bad for missing out on the lessons, but perhaps you can convince Ground Mender to let you attend as well. “What are you doing?” you ask curiously as she pops open the jars and bottles.

  “Making a tonic that numbs your mouth,” she says and starts… just pouring all of the liquids into one larger jar, the colour is blue and a bit misty. 

  “Ah…” you make a sound of understanding. You’re not sure what it would be used for, perhaps oral infections…? “Does it not require more… gentle mixing?”

  “Doesn’t matter once it’s all in there,” she says, closes the lid, and shakes it wildly. 

  Sure. You’ll take her word for it. 

  In the few days after arriving, there wasn’t much for you to do—you feel like a war general in a province without war. There were no patients suffering from afflictions relating to foul energies in the infirmary, mostly just routine injuries that you helped dress, keep an eye on, and assist the patients themselves be comfortable.

  You’ve never been much of a nurse, always preferring the ‘you’ve been cleansed please go home and rest’ approach… 

  Just as you’re tossing out some dirty shirt— a poor man has been vomiting endlessly for the last few hours and always just barely misses the basin before it comes out, and thus has gone through a few shirts since the morning—you spot a white robe moving in the corner of your eyes and see that Ground Mender has decided to grace the infirmary with her presence. 

  She’s been busy, you assume, as she has barely come around the infirmary in the last days—so you seized the opportunity and quickly jogged after her. “Ground Mender!”

  At the call, the adeptus stopped and turned towards you, eyes curious. “Ah, my apologies—I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’ll have free time tomorrow if you want to chat.”

  She didn’t give any details, as usual—you don’t expect the adepti to tell you anything at this point unless it’s very important. “Oh, it’s okay, I’ll talk to you later then,” you quickly reply. You would like to ask her where she’s going, or what she’s doing, but Ground Mender is already halfway down the hallway by the time you could think of what to ask her. 

  Next time, then…

  Feeling so restless is annoying, you can’t even relax and read a book or take a walk after leaving the infirmary without feeling as if you should be doing something else, something more important… doing what you always do.

  There’s no one to cleanse in the capital, there’s no one—at least that has been brought to you—suffering from afflictions relating to foul miasma or strange energies… but you know that somewhere, in places outside of the well-guarded cities, there are people suffering, perhaps sick and unable to get better, because their illness is not the cause of bacteria or themselves, but a foreign energy invading their body.

  You kick a rock in front of you as you walk through the city streets, it bounces four times before you’ve approached it again give it a good swing, causing it to bounce ahead of you again. 

  Perhaps… it’s okay if you leave for a while—there’s not much for you to do anyway, you can always just be summoned again if something happens? 

  You’re not used to being so… tied down to a place, to feel like you don’t have the option to leave whenever you’d like—but you’re unsure why you feel like you can’t leave, it’s not like you’re being held here, you doubt you’d be dragged back kicking and screaming if you expressed that you truly wanted to leave. 

  But you can’t bring yourself to pack your clothes and depart. It’s been on your mind for two days now, and no matter how it bounces back and forth in your head like this stupid pebble, you can’t figure out whether you want to go or not. 

  Besides… who knows where that massive demon went, staying here for the time being would be the safest option—but you’ve never been particularly pressed about your own safety over others, what if he’s devouring people by the villages as you’re wandering the city streets and munching on rice cakes?

  Finally, the pebble you’ve been abusing for a while bounces off to the side and down a stream that hugs an empty home—you won’t go digging for it, so you keep moving. 

  Coming to the stall you were looking for, old man Zhou’s son has reached much popularity with his mixed cuisine, taking what he learned in the west and both selling specialties he learned there, as well as integrating them into local dishes. 

  There is a row of people that splits into two waiting to be served, and you can see the top of his head behind the stall, as well as two shorter heads running to people waiting by the side with their ready orders—his cousins, if you understood currently from your brief visit yesterday. 

  They had just closed the stall when you came here last night, so you were out of luck getting something warm—but Zhou’s son, Shi Hao, had told you to come again early the next day… it seems even leaving at sunrise wasn’t early enough to avoid the crowds. 

  Preparing to wait for a while, and taking a spot at the back of the queue, you couldn’t help but listen in on a conversation between a young girl and boy waiting in front of you. “—uncle told me there’s ghosts in the west, I wonder if the buns here are made of ghost hairs.”

  “What?” the boy next to her gives the girl a confused look. “Why would anyone make buns out of hair? It’s made of dough.”

  “Pigs have hair, why can’t buns have hair? When I poke father’s pig, it feels like I’m poking dough,” the girl shakes her head. “And ghosts have a lot of hair, you can’t cut your hair when you’re a ghost.”

  You decide to tune out of their conversation, every time you listen to kids talk you feel like you understand them less and less.

  The wait stretches on forever, you’re halfway into the queue and feel as if you’ve been waiting for two hours—though it could also have only been one. After an eternity of waiting, it’s very hard to wait when such delicious, strong smells of cooking are wafting by you every second. The sun has risen into the sky, but it’s not very warm despite the brightness… people are dressed in warmer layers as they wait for a hot meal or snack. You hear chatter as a woman behind you keeps rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. 

  Shi Hao barely notices that it’s you when you step up to the front, the headband he’s tied around his forehead to keep sweat from dripping onto the food news changing soon and his hair looks as if a dragon blew him away. “Good day, precious patron!” he calls as he ducks down to fetch more herbs from below. “What could I make for you today? Please look at the menu!”

  You already knew what you wanted, as you had visited the night before. “One traveller’s delight, please,” you lean a bit over the stall so that he could hear you—just as the man shoots up into a standing position and almost knocks heads with you. “Oh—”

  “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was you!” Shi Hao grabs your left arm and shakes it heartily, and you have to grit your teeth to not flinch—that guy’s grip is intense, and your poor arm doesn’t take shaking very well, not shaking like this at least! “I’ll get on it right away—Qi Xuan! Orders seventy two and ninety eight are ready!” 

  One of his cousins came running, it was far before noon and they already seemed as if the two had run three laps across the capital. Maybe you should fetch some water for them after having your meal. 

  You step aside after giving Shi Hao your order as well as setting the sufficient more in the little box on the counter to let the next person approach. While this stand seems to be doing very well… it’s blocking the narrow street that the entrance to Thousand Pots lies in quite a bit. The large crowd both waiting in line and for their food on the sides doesn’t make it easy to spot the small restaurant. 

  Making the mental calculation that your food would likely not be ready in the next seven minutes, you duck into the alleyway and see that Thousand Pots is open as usual, and despite the crowd outside there were still three people inside having a nice meal. 

  As soon as you took two steps in, something hard knocked you on the back, you make a sound of surprise and discomfort and turn to see what had hit you—only to be met with Zhou, holding a ladle, the offending weapon. “Ow… master Zhou, why are you—”

  He whacks you again, but the old man doesn’t exactly have good joints, so it makes it easy for you to predict the next whack and dodge accordingly—by almost banging your hip on a table a poor fellow is eating on. “A youngster like you should be able to fend off an old man like me more easily!” 

  You don’t recall making Zhou angry, and as you almost fall over when your foot hits a chair in the small space, the ladle whacks you on the forehead—right where you had been sore already—and you groan, halfway to falling to the floor and barely able to hold yourself up by grabbing the side of a table next to you. 

  “It was a small tap, don’t tell me you have a skull like a tea pot?” he taps you with it again, and this time you grab the long arm of the ladle and hold it away from you. 

  “Ow… why are you attacking me?” you grumble, rubbing your poor forehead as Zhou lets go of the ladle, leaving it in your care. “Isn’t the restaurant open? I didn’t break in.”

  Shi Hao’s cousin enters the restaurant behind the old man, holding a sealed basket—likely your much anticipated meal. “Gramps does that every time we do something stupid,” the girl says and hands you the basket. “Like when uncle was teaching me to make fish soup, but I forgot to gut the fish.”

  “I don’t recall fumbling a fish soup,” your eyebrows draw together as you’re suddenly holding both your food and the damp ladle Zhou had been using, you extend the ladle to the girl and she accepts it. “But I’m sure I would, I’ve never made one before.”

  Zhou makes a humph-ing sound and takes the ladle from the girl, but doesn’t take another swing at you—thankfully. “We heard all about your condition, and right as you were getting better, you up and leave! I had prepared a week’s worth of delicious meals for you!”

  “Ah…” your lips part, and you’re not sure what to say; for one, who is feeding this old man information from within the palace? You feel a bit bad immediately after his words settle in your brain, you’re not a very wasteful person, and knowing that food was prepared—or more likely, ingredients were prepared and would be used over the week—and were then not used makes you feel uneasy. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware…”

  “Of course you weren’t, it was a surprise,” Zhou said and walked into the back of the restaurant, the girl behind you left as well—and momentarily you were a bit lost as to what you should do, was the conversation over? Are you free to go? 

  Hesitantly walking past tightly spaced tables and into the kitchen, you just manage to see the short old man duck under a flaming pan with two other people preparing for lunch. “Now look at you, like a wet rat.”

  Though a bit exasperated by being scolded so much—especially when you just came out here to get some tasty food—having a elder berate you is a bit nostalgic. “I’m sorry, master Zhou, can I repay you for the foods you had prepared? I hate to hear it went to waste.” The kitchen is steaming hot, with one of Zhou’s daughters working at a broth and another person you haven’t seen before taking a jar that’s been prepared to ferment what’s inside, though already sealed, so you can’t see what.

  “Waste?” the old man popped up again, and suddenly plopped a fat, heavy dough wrapped in a dry bag into your arms—you barely had time to put your basket of ordered… and likely going cold, food aside on a clean surface to catch it. “Little Ming Hui gobbled it up like a starving beast, she didn’t let anything go to waste.”

  It was a relief that nothing went to waste, and you’re not exactly sure how you would repay him—you didn’t bring a lot of mora with you. 

  “That’s good,” you hum, but feel a bit out of place—you had got a taste of the kitchen-rhythm and were very self-aware that you were standing in the middle of it, possibly about to be in someone’s way any second. “Eh… why am I holding this?” you ask hesitantly, it smells a bit like dumpling-dough, and fresh at that.

  “Repay you can! Now come here and cut that dough into even pieces, I’ll teach you how to make my dear wife’s favourite,” he suddenly appears behind you, having rounded the tiny kitchen in seconds without knocking into a single thing, and is now pushing you through the tight space. Pots, plates and other dishware stack up to the ceiling on both sides, and you can really see why they decided to name the place “Thousand Pots”, you couldn’t begin to count them.  

  “O-of course, but, my food—” you start to protest. It’s not that you have important places to be, but what about that lovely smelling basket you just got?? How do you keep getting roped into such things?

  “Bah, Shi Hao can make you more later, put the dough on the counter before you drop it!”

  You feel as if the strings of fate have been forcibly guiding you into kitchens a lot recently, doing hard work with dough… and you feel like you’re really starting to get a hang of it too, though having to take frequent breaks to rest your arms has slowed your progress quite a bit.

  Heat emanating from behind you where Zhou’s daughter is steaming some vegetables makes you feel as if your clothes are sticking to your skin, you wipe your hands after stuffing another bun and look over your shoulder to find the old man, to tell him the buns are ready for the steamer—but your name is called before you could even open your mouth. 

  “In here,” Zhou walks back into the kitchen with a familiar man in tow—Morax ducks under the flaps at the entrance to the kitchen and lets his eyes wander over the pot-filled space before landing on you. “Ah, done already? Well done! Let’s get them ready,” the old man nods eagerly and scoops up about five buns at once from in front of you. 

  For a moment, you thought you were hallucinating—no one else seems to greet or notice him there, and you’re unsure how to test this hypothetical illusion… you kick the counter before you, and sure enough, despite the sting in your poor toe, Morax remains. 

  His eyes lower down to your foot, and then raise up to meet your eyes again with swirls of confusion. “Are you… experiencing jerking symptoms in your leg?”

  His confused and rather innocent question makes you feel a bit bad. “No, I just—it was an accident, my legs are fine,” you quickly say, wiping your sticky and flour-covered hands on your pants. “Why are you here? Er, I mean—are you here for any specific reason? Or, is it a coincidence…? No…” you started out too harshly, then got too specific and ended up asking a strange question. You need to socialise with wider circles on a more consistent basis. Maybe you should find a council to join and relearn how to be polite in a manner you won’t fumble so easily.

  Morax simply waits until you finish talking, no longer seeming confused or concerned—despite the fact you feel that you’ve been around him quite a bit more than many, at least many mortals like yourself, you still struggle to understand his expressions… or perhaps he’s the one who struggles to form them. “I was searching for you. Ming Hui told me that you had gone to taste young Shi Hao’s new menu, and the little ones outside told me you were put to work.”

  It’s a little embarrassing that he had to search for you, but you can’t be blamed too much—you got roped into kitchenwork, you can’t exactly abandon half-cut dough.

  “Searching for me? What for?” your fingers still feel sticky from the dough, and you look around for a washbasin or towel, but find nothing that seems to be for washing your hands, perhaps it’s behind the middle counter where the broth is being made. It must be somewhere—it’s a kitchen after all. 

  Morax notices your mild discomfort, searching around subtly—or so you think—as you wipe more at your clothes that are already powdered by flour. He chooses not to comment on it nor inquire what you need. “It is best discussed with more privacy, if you… have finished here, I would like you to accompany me.”

  You immediately nod. “Oh, of course.” but as you glance to the heap of chopped and worked dough next to you, a small part of you feels like you’re leaving a job only half-done. 

  Thankfully, before you can either ask the god before you to wait a moment or that you’ll come to him later—Zhou behind you calls that you’re done for the day, and that you can leave if Morax needs you. “I’ll save some buns for you! Come back later!”

  The air feels cold when you’re back outside, you didn’t realise how stuffy the kitchen had become until now. The fresh, cool air almost makes your teeth tingle as you follow Morax, his long feet allowing him to outpace you quite well. 

  The walk is silent between the two of you, but the streets are alive and loud with people as the afternoon brings them out from work and obligations, you have to shoulder past a few to keep in pace with him as you pass through a busy street and almost feel that you need to grab ahold of his clothes or arm to not lose sight of him—though the thought is equally as terrifying as it would be embarrassing would he turn with question or discomfort. 

  You refrain, you don’t make a habit of touching people anyway—surely you could just give him a shout and he’ll wait by the nearest street corner? 

  Thankfully you manage to follow Morax through the crowd until the two of you reach the high streets leading towards the palaces, where he looks over his shoulder to see whether you were still behind him—and upon seeing your form still trailing behind, he tilts his head slightly and turns back forward. 

  “Were you enjoying yourself?” Morax suddenly asks as you begin to ascend the stairs towards the palaces, he climbs them so easily it seems as if he were merely gliding upwards—meanwhile you have to fight to keep up with him, and hope he doesn’t hear any heavy breathing. 

  You take two steps at a time to try and catch up to his side. “In the kitchen? I don’t know,” you admit. You just did what you were told, kneading was a bit straining—and not the most interesting thing you’ve done, but you were too focused to get too bored. “I don’t mind cooking, or baking. But I don’t spend time perfecting the craft…”

  He hums, golden eyes faced forward as you finally seem to match his pace. “Your dedication to your work is admirable.”

  You almost stumble face-first onto the rocky stairs, your poor toe impacting the step you intended to push onto too early. With a lack of grace you manage to steady yourself before cracking a tooth, or possibly breaking your nose on the ground. “A-ah, thank you…”

  The sudden compliment startled you, weren’t you talking about cooking? You suppose the reason you haven’t learnt the optimal ways of making your favourite meals and opting for the quicker route instead is because you are often more focused on getting back to whatever you were doing before dinner time… maybe you’re not as hard to read as you expected, or hoped. 

  You’re not sure what to say, and he doesn’t offer any more words as you continue to climb the stairs—should you offer a compliment in return? It doesn’t feel right to just leave it at that, but you haven’t directly done so before, wouldn’t it feel too forced?

  “The Guili Assembly has always been home to me, and I hate to see the people suffer unnecessary sickness,” you add. To have a healthy body, a fate unburdened from illness—and have it forced upon you by conflicts out of your control… how can it be fair? 

  You hate to see the pallid skin of a person who climbed a tall mountain to collect flowers for their love, the foreign ichor that crawls beneath their muscle and steals life from it. You wish for them to be healthy and whole again, as they are meant to be. Without the interference of a godly war for territories and strength—

  You hear your name spoken in front of you and realise you fell behind, a good eight steps between the two of you. Morax is staring at you, considering your words. “It is a noble thing, to devote oneself to easing the pain of others.” 

  A second acknowledgement, your heart feels a bit too noticeable in your chest—beating too firmly against your ribs. He seems like he wants to say more, but as a cool breeze pushes at your side, his eyes flicker from your face when a leaf flows between the two of you, breaking your eye-contact and he quickly sets a foot to the next step. “Come, I wish to show you something.”

  You’ve never been at the top of Morax’s palace, it’s mostly bare compared to Guizhong’s well decorated and pretty hallways. The wood is elaborately cut and polished, of course… but there’s a distinct lack of… soul within it. No artwork, no artefacts or curtains. You can’t help but wonder why as your gaze finds his back again. 

  The room you step into is shaped the same as the one Guizhong called you into a while ago, but whilst her was a blend of an office and workshop, Morax’s seems more of a war room. There is a map on a table at the centre, the Guili Assembly is outlined at the centre, the vast oceans to the east and the mountains that warp into a swirl to the southwest—many mapped lands that you have never set foot in, and some you have only heard of and never seen on a map. 

  The windows are tinted and closed, casting the afternoon sun onto the floor as unlit lamps hang from the ceiling. You feel like the air is a bit heavy, it could do with an open window…

  “He Shan disappeared into the western highlands, I did not manage to trace his exact location or where he has chosen to hide himself,” Morax says as he closes the door behind you, he moves past you and approaches a large cabinet sat against the wall to your left. It’s large and has a lot of different doors to it—you could imagine scrolls and small artefacts could be kept inside each one. 

  Opening one, Morax reaches inside and takes out an object wrapped in a cloth, golden lines shimmer atop the covered item as he taps it twice. The centre of the seal quivers before disappearing into particles, floating into the air and disappearing above your heads. As he unravels it, the object looks like a stone slab of some sorts. You approach the war table as Morax does, he sets the object down and your nose scrunches as a terrible stench emanates from it. “He leaves behind traces of himself, this is a chipped piece of his scales, likely torn from his body when moving around the landscape.”

  A scale? Well, part of a scale, the serpent was so massive you imagine one scale is half the size of your body—or at least the size of your torso, this chipped scale fits into your palm. “Why does it smell like this?” you ask, you don’t remember such a stench filling the air as the demon emerged from the mountain, only the oppressive weight of his resentment. 

  Morax is silent for a beat, before he turns the scale around—and beneath it is an inky, writing mass. It gleams as if it’s wet, but it doesn’t stick to Morax’s gloved hands, not leave a damp imprint on them. “In two villages I visited while following his traces, I found that their waters had been turned to sludge—they could not use the rivers to wash nor drink.”

  You looked at the mass on the inside of the scale again. “Is it safe to touch?”

  “Briefly, to my knowledge. But I have not tested prolonged exposure with mortal hands,” he says and gestures to the map on the table, his finger tapped on a dotted spot to the west of the Fangyuan mountains. “He moved from the mountains and west, past this village, as well as the town north of it,” Morax’s finger glides along the highlands separating the Guili Assembly from the deep forests further west. “I traced him to Tianqiu Valley before my path led to a dead end.”

  Your fingers curl at your chin, a hum leaving you. “Surely a serpent so large can’t just… hide?” it’s hard to imagine, he spanned so many kilometres you’re unsure how he would rest without leaving his tail in the open somewhere—or perhaps gods don’t require rest? You’ve never seen a god sleep, or an adeptus for that matter. 

  “Unfortunately, were he to hide further north there is too high of a risk to send scouts into foreign territory,” Morax shakes his head. “This scale, does this resemble the miasma you encounter during cleansing?”

  You eye the squirming mass, trying to gouge it from sight alone—you don’t really want to touch it, but just looking at it isn’t giving you much. It’s certainly more solid than the usual foul energies you pull out of people, miasma feels… slimy and wet, but not like you’re clenching a rat in your palm, even when it fights your pull. More like trying to grasp thick mist. 

  Reaching your hand out, you lay your palm over it—careful not to touch it as you feel for the energy. It’s much warmer than the usual miasma, but doesn’t shirk away when you get close… it’s definitely not the same, but has a similar tinge in a way that’s difficult to explain. “It is… different,” your brows pinch and you lift your hand away from the scale to see that the mass had lifted upwards and then deflated as soon as you moved—like bread being uncovered when it’s set to rest while making it. 

  “Different?” Morax moves the scale slightly, he didn’t quite like how it raised towards your palm. 

  “It’s got a similar aftertaste,” you wipe your hand on your clothes, it didn’t touch you, but you get an uncomfortable tingle from the thought of it. “Since he’s a demon, wouldn’t his energies be inherently different than the ones that infect the lands?”

  You’ve only dealt with a demon once before, and you didn’t stay long enough to get to know it properly—personally or in nature. 

  “Not necessarily,” Morax said. “The beings whose remains leave poison behind are all very different, many are classified as gods by mortals—it can be difficult to differentiate between them. Even Guizhong and I are very different in nature, but you would simply see the two of us as divine beings. Demons are similarly different among themselves.”

  You nod along as he talks, it’s surprisingly easy to listen to his voice when he’s explaining things to you. You did know that gods are very different in nature, rarely are gods one and the same. “I see… and we need to understand what king He Shan is?”

  He nods and takes the scale from the table, wrapping it into the pale cloth again. “General Huang has extended contact to Mei Lan, it would greatly speed the process if she were willing to divulge their history. Facing the demon head on without any information of his nature is too dangerous.”

  After closing the cloth around it, the seal seems to close itself without his interference, Morax offers it to you. You blink at him, eyes moving between his expression and the scale. “... why are you giving it to me?”

  “The affinity you have for foul energies can be utilised for more than cleansing,” he says and takes your wrapped arm from your side, lifting it up and placing the wrapped scale in your palm. “Keep this in your bedroom, not by the nightstand, but on the desk.”

  Your fingers instinctively wrap around the clothed scale, but your eyebrows furrow. “Is it safe?”

  “I would not place this burden on you had I any doubts,” he shakes his head, and his warm hands leave yours. “Every evening, feel for its energies and move it from it’s spot every other night. When you wake, try to sense it across the room.”

  The pieces in your mind start to align as he gives you the instructions, clicking together in realisation. “You want me to be able to track him?”

  “My senses cover a large distance and can find a target’s location across the land,” his expression pinches as he talks, eyes narrowing slightly. “But as I reached Tianqiu Valley, his essence seemed to scatter, and each time I approached; it evaporated.”

  Some kind of trick, no doubt—you’re unsure how exactly you’re the solution to it, but you trust his foresight. “I see… you must forgive me, but I’m struggling to understand how I can be of assistance if you couldn’t find him.”

  You wince at your own words, maybe you could have worded it better—but can you be blamed for doubting yourself compared to him? 

  Morax doesn’t seem offended by your question, he moves towards a shelf and takes a book from it—it looks old, the cover doesn’t shield the spine of it and is made of a thick material you’re unsure what it is made of. “Many demons are proud beings,” he turns back towards you and holds the book out for you to take, you accept it with your free hand that isn’t clutching the uncomfortably warm scale. “They… over and under prepare simultaneously. You are not preparing for battle, do not worry overmuch,” an everso small tug lifts at his lips, so faint that you wouldn’t notice if you were not used to seeing his expression so lacking of one. “Tracking and cornering He Shan is the difficult part, but not the most dangerous. I will handle the rest swiftly afterwards.”

  You look down at the book, it seems to be a collection of old folktales, though they exaggerate, they can help give you an understanding of how demons behave around mortals. 

  Morax is asking much of you—that he knows well, to ask you to risk your safety to assist him. Defeating demons is mostly a game of mind, the physical battle will be a smaller feat for him; Morax has defeated many demons in the past. “If you are not willing, I will not force this task upon you,” he says, a mild concern touching his gaze by your silence. 

  Raising your head from staring at the book, you shake it. “I am willing. If it will prevent harm and disaster upon innocent villagers and townsfolk.”

  The small touch of a smile widens briefly, a gentle expression gracing his face—you truly wish he would be more expressive, every smile and soft gaze makes your palms sweat slightly, but they warm your chest as well. It might also make it easier for you to talk to him without feeling that you’re overstepping, or sounding silly. 

  “Very well, then I employ your assistance with this task,” Morax nods. “You will of course be well compensated.”

  Payment is always nice, but you hope he knows that you’re sincere when you say that you want to assist for the safety of others. You’re sure he’s only being formal. “Thank you. Is there anything else I must do other than… sleeping with this thing around?” you lift the clothed scale for emphasis. 

  “Yes,” he turns to the map beside the two of you again and meets your eyes briefly to ensure you’ve followed his movements before he gestures to the two villages he mentioned before along the western edges of the Assembly. “I did not manage to stop for long when I was tracking He Shan, the waters are likely still infected and must be cleansed. I requested supplies be sent from nearby towns to assist them, but it will not last for long.”

  It’s not too long of a travel distance, but you stay silent to let him continue. Surely you won’t be going alone? Not that you can’t, but what if the serpent decides to slide through again?

  “I cannot accompany you just yet, but I will convene with you in a few days.” Ah, as you suspected—you suppose it’s not so surprising, Morax must be very busy… He Shan is just one among many threats that the Guili Assembly faces in these times, many of which you are unaware of. “I will ask that Indarias join you, I suspect that He Shan’s potent energies will attract smaller demons that mistake it for remains.”

  You just nod along to his words, you don’t know who Indarias is but if they’re going to be joining you specifically because there might be demons about, then you suppose they must be capable. “When will we set out?”

  “Two days,” Morax straightens again, turning away from the map to face you completely again. “Indarias has been tasked elsewhere, but she will return quickly once summoned. I suspect two days will be enough—will you require longer to prepare?”

  “No… but…” a thought suddenly strikes you, something you hadn’t considered as you were discussing everything. “I lost my tools in the south, they were blown away at the start of the conflict,” you scratch your cheek awkwardly. Finding or getting cleansing tools isn’t a simple task, much less so crafting them from scratch, they need specific qualities and material to be effective. 

  Morax’s lips part slightly. “Ah, I see. I will speak with Ground Mender and see if she has any solutions, I will find you before you depart…” he pauses for a moment. “They were well used.”

  They were, well used and loved by your family, your grandmother before you and many before. You always promised to take good care of them… you swallow your saliva and just give Morax a nod. “Yeah, it was used by my family for a long time. It’s impressive how long it lasted, I suppose it was an eventuality.”

  Silent, Morax doesn’t seem to know what exactly to say. “I am sorry that you lost a family heirloom… it will not replace what was lost, but I can commission new tools for you. It will not do to be without.”

  It won’t be the same, but you will need new tools either way, you bow your head slightly. “Thank you, I’m grateful for your consideration.”

  You feel something touch your head—familiar and warm, a tinge of déjà vu prickling your mind. Morax had set his hand atop your head, giving it a small pat before retreating it again. “No need, it is my duty.” you gingerly raise your head again, head tickled a little from the touch. “Please use it well to continue your good work.”

[obbystars]

revised document for 4.5 update

Z-222 “FALLEN ANGEL”

In late 2024, a strange signal had appeared just above the Let-Vand Zone before it pierced through the veil. It wasn’t a fish, and it definitely wasn’t an ordinary person despite the shape of them. Upon closer inspection, and once captured, it turned out to be an angel. Somehow, it found the location of the Hadal Blacksite and was heading straight for it before operatives caught it in its tracks.

This angel is vastly different compared to the Guardian Angel that was captured in the Banlands, but still provides blood just like it. The angel was soon given the designation “Z-222” as it was both used for research purposes as well as harvesting its blood. Some researchers have tried questioning it, but it refuses to respond. It only stares at them, sometimes turning away. The angel hasn’t attempted any retaliation even before it was captured. Due to this, it is advised to be wary when speaking to Z-222 or even approaching it.

Researchers then opted to study the angel’s biology to better understand it, but it appeared that it has biology strangely similar to a human. This may be because of the form it has taken which was one that appeared to be a human. The wings don’t appear to have bones either. The mask on its face isn’t a mask at all, but rather its actual face where the pale white eyes can be seen blinking. Occasionally, Z-222’s right eye will have two stars, but the reason for that is unknown.

There was one instance where a researcher was almost killed by Z-222. The reasons for this is unknown as Z-222 refused to explain and the researcher seemed to have been silenced by it due to possible threats. After this, a metal box was locked around its head to prevent incidents like this happening again. It was later found out Z-222 had no intention to kill the researcher, but the reason for the incident is still unknown.

Seeing as studying the angel’s biology is no longer possible, Z-222 is now being used as a “secondary angel blood harvester.”

2 hours into the lockdown, Z-222 had escaped containment. Ever since then, there has been little to no visual of Z-222. Operatives are instructed to attempt to recapture Z-222.

Various cameras within the facility has also been knocked out, which leads to difficulty in manages the various teams sent down into the blacksite.

About 7 hours into the lockdown, footage caught Z-222 meeting up with Z-13 but it was cut short as Z-222 noticed the camera in the room. It is unclear if they are working together, but recently, there’s been strange occurrences where operatives will find themselves in rooms that have never been constructed in the blacksite. Sometimes, they are rooms with a completely different structure.

The strange rooms within the blacksite goes as follows:

Hotel lobby

Cabin

Modern office spaces

Bricked hallway maze

Never ending hallway

Hallway of a bloody ocean

Module room

Backrooms

An unknown containment room

It is likely there are more to be discovered. It is also theorized this is Z-222’s doing as to throw off the EXR-P who were instructed on retrieving the crystal. It is possible that due to this, monsters like A-60 “The Multi-Monster” and ▇▇▇ had been dragged into the blacksite.

I think I should point out that the whole idea that Oberon’s the reason for the rare/easter egg rooms is just a silly idea I had that oddly fit for his character lol

[crossxworlds]

The Pocket Rift

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - Kevin W. Burke

Act 2 - Tryl

Episode 19

__________

Aiani sat back down, shrugging. “Oh, yeah. That's just a Firebolt.”

“I can't believe you just– wait, why did you torch it?”

She sighed, showing a bit of impatience. 

“That's another Continental Guard drone,” she said, pointing out at the checkpoint station. “They keep trying to surveil us from out there.”

“You fried a Guard drone?! Isn't that going to bring you trouble?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “The lawyers have been all over this many times. Too many times. We can't stop them from sending drones, because of something called ‘public airspace’ even though they're never high enough for that. And they can't stop us from shooting ‘em down, because– well, they're never high enough. Invasion of privacy.”

She took a tiny sip of beer. “Sorry, what was I talking about before?”

Davin looked from his pointed finger, to the smoldering pile of drone remains, to Aiani. He shook his head and sat back down. 

“I honestly don't remember,” he said, inspecting her with much more consideration than before. 

“Oh, of course!” She said, remembering. “I don't have to keep a low profile like a lot of agents. That's why they pick me to talk to cameras. Or explode them.”

Davin scratched his head, eyebrows raised. “Ok then.”

He leaned forward, face getting serious. “They say some of your people have been here for centuries in secret. Is that true? How long have you been here?”

Aiani took a breath, nodding slowly, circling a finger around the rim of her beer can. She'd given plenty of carefully worded statements to journalists and diplomats about these questions in meetings over the last few months, but somehow it had never mattered to her how they felt or thought about her answers, like it did to her now, face to face with Davin.

She decided not to follow one of her prepared scripts. If he was different, there was only one way to find out: Let him see the real Aiani and see if he can be trusted with it. 

“My grandmother was one of the first to learn about the Pockets, and the other worlds, a couple hundred years ago. She was just as surprised as I’m sure your world is feeling now. An evil cabal of wizards had discovered the portals. They were using them to slip out of our world and into yours, only to pop back into our world elsewhere. They nearly succeeded in talking over the major kingdoms of our world because of their secret advantage. The multi-nation council we had formed to defeat them, realized the danger the Pockets represented in the wrong hands. So they vowed to keep them secret, even from our own people, outside of the Council.

Davin nodded, taking in everything she had told him for a moment. He took another long drink. Finally, he spoke. 

“She didn’t like the secrecy, my grandma. She decided to go along with it, for the greater good. But these sorts of things tend to take on a life of their own. I got involved at the end of her life, at her request. She felt the secrecy was a stain on her legacy.

“I’ve only been here in Gloomsburg since the day of the eclipse, when the Pocket Rift happened. It was a H’el of a day to show up to work on.”

“So… you’re saying that the day you showed up is the day everything went to H’el?”

Aiani’s mouth dropped open, indignant for a moment, until she saw the hint of a smirk on his mouth. She pressed her lips together, suppressing either a curse or a smile. Was he flirting?

“Honestly!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know what your world does to men, but I haven’t met any here that I haven’t wanted to strangle at some point!”

“Oh, it’s my world that does it?” he asked. “To every man around you?”

She squinted at him. “I stand by my statement.” 

“Well…” he said, “I won’t point fingers. There will be plenty of finger-pointing between our worlds for some time, I imagine.”

Aiani looked at him with mild surprise, and shook her can lightly to check the level of beer in it. Still mostly full. “Nope, it’s not the beer,” she said. “You were actually profound for a moment.” 

Davin laughed. 

She had played it like a joke, but now he genuinely intrigued her.

__________

< Last Episode | Episode 1 | Next Episode >

[ask-crimson-weaver]

Research: done. Wizard: arrived. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

First, Clearlee Cosmetics. It’s a relatively new company (less than a year since it was founded) and is absolutely a multi-level marketing scheme. Focuses on selling skin care products marked up to make them seem fancier. Had Strange look at the hand scrub that showed up, and it’s mundane— no weird magic going on with it. Suppose that can’t speak for the entire product line, but we don’t have anything else to inspect right now. The founder-slash-head person’s name listed on their website is, I kid you not, Karen Clearlee. No other identifying info info online (the Clearlee website and social media are all pretty generic and brand-focused) so we’re assuming it’s an alias. Some of the next-tier members seem to be using their real names though, so Red’s trawling the web to pool some data on them.

Speaking of Res: the footage.

It… honestly doesn’t show much? Hannah didn’t leave the apartment, only came out to head to the bathroom for a minute with the hand scrub before going back to the bedroom. Harls ran some visual identifier program over it, and he did manage to pick up on some distortion in the footage, isolated to the wall where our bedroom is. Started a few minutes before Hannah came out, ended right before she left the room. Trace magic inside suggests that someone else— or at least something using the same type of magic Han’s been dunked in— was in there. Explains how the hand scrub got in, but also means someone else stopped by for a visit. The Karen Clearlee lady, maybe?

Now for the wizard’s input.

It’s definitely vampirism— or, at least, a form of blood magic that mimics what we consider to be vampires. Somehow, though, that doesn’t narrow it down, so he’s gonna have to take his notes and do some research on what type of blood magic-based vampirism we’ve got going on.

Something a bit more concerning is that, from a mix of how the magic is structured and the point it’s progressed to, he… doesn’t have a way to draw out the vampire stuff without some major magical consequences. Something about… bound blood? Connection to the vamp that did the vamping to Hannah, or something like that. Best way to release the hold with the fewest repercussions is to take out the top vampire. But, of course, we’ll have to track her down first.

So… yeah. That’s where we’re at right now.

I guess, for the foreseeable future, my girlfriend is a vampire.

[lunarsands]

Multi-SMP Fanfic: Which Fate's Fairest To Us All - Ch 4

Afterlife SMP, New Life SMP and Empires SMP S2 crossover combo!!! I'm back with more MythicalSausage meets MythicalSausage shenanigans!

Characters: Mythical Sausage (1st), Rusty the Copper Golem, PearlescentMoon, Scott Smajor (1st), Mythical Sausage (2nd), Hermes, Mythical Sausage (3rd), Scott Smajor (2nd), Rocky the Goblin, and a couple of briefly mentioned cameos at the end!

WARNINGS: Character death (but they get better because Afterlife/New Life rules are in play), body horror

Chapter Summary: The groups separated in the labyrinth finally reunite. Myth has all the evidence he needs to tell him where they are, and where to go to escape. Things don’t remain that easy when they come across more sculk...

Sequel to Mirror Tenfold, Beyond the Wall and follows sometime after the events of Thou, O Kings, Fair Be You All (“sometime” being relative to how much time passes in each universe)

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ] [ Chapter Three ]

-----

Chapter Four

The two followed Myth all the way to the crossroads where he had found Scott. There, Myth seemed to be searching for something. He walked to the passageway to their left and inspected the wall then the floor. Scott warily eyed the small patch of sculk near the phoenix’s hand. He was then shocked when Myth grabbed a strand of sculk vein and yanked it free of the floor. Flames engulfed his fingers, incinerating it. Myth then touched the floor again.

“This way,” he said. He prevented any questions by adding, “Call it a hunch.”

Scott would have commented that this passage ran parallel to the one he had fled from, but saw the wisdom in keeping silent. He did discover what Myth had apparently been searching for when he stepped forward to follow and his foot slipped downward into a divot in the floor. He wasn’t sure what it signified but it seemed to mean something to Myth.

Something that made flickers of flame come off his wings.

To Scott’s relief, however, the sculk thinned out after a point, no longer forming  masses that spanned between both walls across the floor like in the other section. Myth continued to check the ground at the open end of each passageway they came across. He always chose the ones with divots in either the floor or near the open edge of a particular wall.

They seemed to be making good progress this way, at least, although Scott had begun to wonder what had made the divots. His concern really ramped up when they reached a wall with a hole in it. Myth’s flames flared up even more, causing Scott and Sausage to step away from him simply by instinctual caution. Myth inspected the edges of the hole, then stepped through. He glanced back and now noticed an indentation on the opposite side.

Myth hurried back into the first passageway, and was soon rapidly following a trail of destruction through multiple walls. Scott and Sausage attempted to keep up, although the more Sausage saw of the damage, the more it reminded him of the state some of the buildings in Sanctuary had been left when the Superhero had interfered between the two battling angels.

Eventually the holes and debris along the ground gave way to the unblemished walls of an intact passageway stretching off into darkness ahead. Myth continued forward, a scowl of determination on his face. Scott looked to Sausage for reassurance; the older man didn’t seem to have any doubts or lose faith even though Myth was obviously following something he was familiar with rather than whatever influence the Staff was having over him.

It was at the next crossroad, though, that Scott saw what had first signaled to Sausage that he could trust where Myth was going. As the phoenix repeatedly inspected the floor and walls, the gemstone in the Staff twinkled. In that same second Myth decisively turned to his right.

A few minutes later the other end of the passage came into view. First they saw part of a giant statue, then the debris around it became apparent, and upon fully entering this open area, they saw a battleground with more damaged walls and scorch marks in various places.

They also saw two figures: a tall one seated on another piece of a statue next to a perpendicular passageway, and a very small figure on the floor below the first. The latter seemed to be pacing but in very small increments. Myth stopped and gripped the staff so hard it creaked. When Sausage glanced over to reprimand him, he saw that Myth’s gaze was scanning the whole tableau rather than focused on the figures.

It was then that a third person joined the other two – by floating down from above, a trident held in one hand. They immediately addressed the person sitting, who nodded a couple of times before coughing into their elbow.

Sausage smiled, relief flooding through him. He strode around the assortment of debris, disregarding Scott, Myth, and everyone else. “Mijo!” he called, just loud enough to not startle the man that his son was talking to.

“Dad?” Hermes turned in response to the affectionate term. He spread his arms wide and ran to embrace Sausage while carefully holding the trident at the same time. “Dad! I’m glad you’re alright! We were going to go look for you, but my new friend here isn’t feeling well, so I’ve been out scouting while he rests.” He stepped back and gestured to the man seated on the statue, then hastily motioned downward. “Oh, and of course my other new friend, Rusty. He can’t really introduce himself.”

“Hello!” Sausage cheerfully greeted the Ghast Mage; neither of them was phased by the fact that they shared an identical face. “And hello, Rusty! I know someone who has been looking for you!” He smiled at the copper golem, then shifted his gaze to the trident Hermes held and asked quietly, “Um, mijo, where did you get that? I don’t remember you packing it…” He seemed unable to resist the urge to reach out to touch it. “I can sense energy coming off it that feels… familiar?”

“Yeah, I thought I noticed something, too,” Hermes replied. He nodded toward the Ghast Mage. “He found it here in the rubble and thought it might work best in my hands.” The young man grinned and flexed his biceps. “I figured Thunder-dad couldn’t hear me in this dimension, but maybe he found a way to help out, y’know?”

A cryptic if not amused expression danced across Sausage’s lips. “Oh, yes, I get a sense of involvement from your other parent, alright…”

The chance to elaborate on this comment passed when the Ghast Mage spoke up, sporting a cheerful smile of his own.  “It’s nice to finally meet Hermes’ dad! He’s a good boy! Very helpful.” His gaze then slid to Myth and his smile faded to a tight line. He coughed politely – unrelated to his current malady. “And hello, Rusty’s surrogate dad.”

Myth didn’t acknowledge any of what was going on. He was facing away from the group and was clutching the Staff close, apparently staring at something on one of the walls.

If any of them were to have a view of his face they would have seen that his eyes had turned pale and his expression had become haunted by a past memory that took over his thoughts.

Scott, equally oblivious to Myth’s affliction as everyone else, jogged over. “Saus—er, Ghast-sage! Did you run into that thing, too? I never saw you when I was escaping from it. Or, um, I didn’t notice you. I ran into it way back that way.” He pointed over his shoulder. He was dismayed when his Sausage pointed in the opposite direction.

The Ghast Mage sighed in exasperation. “Oh, no, don’t tell me there are two of them! One is enough! Sheesh!”

Scott couldn’t help pointing out the humor in the situation. “Well, there are three of you here right now, so maybe we shouldn’t complain about only two Wardens.”

Ghast-sage folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t know if I should be offended by that or not.”

“You’re handling this well,” Scott said in a softer tone. “I’m still wrapping my head around it.”

“Yeah, well, we were going nowhere fast, so Hermes and I talked for a while and he told me about his dad, and Rusty told me about my usurper, so I knew what to expect.”

Scott pointed down at the copper golem, who was now calmly standing still beside him. “Rusty… told you about… this guy?” Scott rotated his torso to the side so he could gesture at Myth with both hands while not moving his gaze from his friend’s face.

“Yeah. In his own way. I have a special rapport with him,” Ghast-sage bragged.

“I hate to tell you this,” Scott said, “But I’ve seen them interact, and the phoenix hybrid over there can also communicate just fine with Rusty.”

“Oh.” The Ghast Mage looked less proud of himself. “I guess, uh… I guess that just means all versions of me are special! Ahem.” He went quiet for a few seconds, then began coughing again.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just—” Cough, cough. “You know that trick people use in the Nether? ‘Return to sender’?” Scott nodded while the Ghast Mage coughed again. “It turns out… A sonic shriek… can turn back a Ghast ball, too… Really quickly. Right back into my mouth. Ghast hybrids aren’t quite, ehhh, built for that internally. I can conjure fireballs, not eat them!” He coughed a few more times, then leaned back on his hands. “Whew! Young Hermes there tried to give me a healing potion but it evaporated as I started to drink it. We figured the ones from his world don’t work on people from our world. Or, our world’s configuration? I forget how he explained it, but he’s the one with experience traveling the multiverse, so it makes sense to him, and he sounds very confident about it! Like, there are other realities parallel to ours that have similar rules about physics and nature, and realities like his, where the rules can be slightly different, or completely different! So, the way a certain potion is formulated can vary.”

“Uh-huh,” Scott murmured as his friend continued to ramble. His mind went back to what Myth had said about no one being bothered by a phoenix and a fungal mage taking the place of a ghast mage and a transporter, which made him wonder what the two masqueraders’ world was like.

Suddenly, Myth’s distinctly gruffer voice rang out over the Ghast Mage’s rambling. “I know exactly where we are in this labyrinth, and I know where to go to get out.”

All eyes turned to him, including Hermes’ – and Sausage noticed a look of distress on his son’s face, as well as the young man’s posture tensing, knuckles white around the haft of the trident. He lightly touched Hermes’ arm. “Mijo?”

Hermes inhaled and forced his body to relax. He responded quietly, “Sorry. I… I’m used to meeting other versions of you in different realities, but none of them had similarities to… that one. The… first one I ever met.”

Sausage quickly hugged Hermes. “It’s okay, mijo. This one is grouchy, but the Staff trusts him. You know it has a failsafe now to prevent another imposter incident.”

Hermes gave a start. “Wait, the Staff…” He turned, eyes going wide in disbelief. “I hadn’t even noticed!”

Myth had paused upon seeing that The Protector was distracted by the unfamiliar young man whom Myth assumed must be Hermes. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the cautious looks made him resigned to accept more negativity based on who he was. So, he went on with his announcement. “There’s just one catch.” He removed one hand from the Staff to point upward. “I only know it from above. Last time I wasn’t able to get there under my own power and had help finding it.”

Here he laid a glance over the Ghast Mage and Hermes. “As you can probably guess, it was yet another version of us.” He then looked at Sausage. “One that you personally know. So, if you don’t want to trust my word, you can obviously trust that one’s.”

Sausage frowned regretfully at him in response. “Myth, did you hear any of what we were all saying a few minutes ago?”

Myth blinked. He realized that he hadn’t heard them nor could he even remember if anything had happened between exiting the passageway and seeing the rest of the group comingling without him. Rather than admit his inattention he merely shook his head.

Sausage’s hand trailed away from Hermes’ arm as he took a few steps in Myth’s direction. “Can I be honest with you, triste pájaro de fuego? I think you need to stop comparing yourself to that other angel, and focus on what you can do. If you can get us out of here, please show us.”

Myth harrumphed. “What about you, though? We’ve found everyone we came in here with. Why don’t you just send us all back?” He thrust the Staff toward Sausage. “Just make sure you grab Smajor for me and throw him back into my world, then he and I can both return to our inconvenient existences and not get in the way of someone we happen to look like.” He lowered his head with a scowl – only to sneak a forlorn glance at Rusty. “…Everyone back exactly where they belong.”

Hermes took note of that glance. He was ready to say something, but a slow shake of Sausage’s head made him pause. “I can’t,” Sausage confessed. “My powers are limited here, or else I would have been able to find Hermes without your help.”

Myth’s lip twitched into a sneer as he lifted his head. “What do you mean, my help? We were lucky to find them here!”

“Here, of all places in this labyrinth?” Sausage countered. “The specific point of reference that only you have? The Staff sensed it in you. That’s why it let you hold it.”

“What are you talking about?” Myth scoffed, although his loss of time from a few minutes ago had sparked some internal panic spurred on by Sausage’s words. “How can an overgrown magical stick let me do anything?”

Sausage chuckled quietly. “It holds the magic of Sanctuary, and the magic of all of reality. It knows what it’s doing: trusting you.”

Myth exhaled an uncomfortable breath as he held the Staff at arm’s length and placed the end of it against the ground. He attempted to be subtle about running his gaze up and down the length of it as he reevaluated his opinion of it.

Hermes now saw his chance to chime in – as well as get the group to make some progress toward escaping. He was just as concerned about the Ghast Mage’s condition as he was for what Myth was implying about himself. “You get used to it. I had to wait for the Staff to accept me, too, and I’m a demi-god on my other father’s side.”

The comment worked to sidetrack Myth’s discomfort. “Other father…?”

“Yeah. He has control over the weather.” Leaving those words to sink in, Hermes swiftly continued, “I’ve been to the top of the walls. I can probably get at least two people up there before I need to rest.” He saw Sausage was about to say something out of worry so he added, “There’s something about the atmosphere here that is dampening my powers, too. This trident can only help me so much with the traveling part. I could use my reserves, but I’d rather not do that just yet. In my case it’s probably the lack of open sky.”

Sausage nodded at this reasoning. He scratched at his beard with one hand in thought. “No, you’re on to something. No open atmosphere means no energy connecting outward to the rest of reality, which is what could be preventing my powers from working.”

Myth interjected, “There’s some kind of energy here that influences people’s powers, because—” He stopped himself. In a defeated mumble he said, “…Never mind. That’s about other people. Let’s… uhm, focus on what we can do.”

Having muddled over Hermes’ dilemma, Scott offered, “I can help get everyone up top. My powers have recharged. Hermes, if you take me up first I can set a teleportation point and go back and forth taking one person with me. You can stay there to make sure they recover from any disorientation, and then we can be on our way in less than two minutes.”

The Ghast Mage piped up, “Oh, yes, his teleportation is completely accurate! Not a lot of disorientation at all! Um. Unless you happen to get motion sick from dimensional displacement. Not a big deal, really!”

Scott rolled his eyes, “Saus – er, Ghast-sage, you can stop now. You’re not helping.”

“Sorry, sorry!” The Ghast Mage coughed between words. “Just speaking from my own personal experience, you know! It’s not necessarily universal!”

Hermes couldn’t help a small laugh, then he turned to Myth. “Which wall do you recommend we start from?”

Myth looked around the old battleground again, hoping that this time he didn’t zone out. Scott took the opportunity to help his friend down off the statue. Rusty immediately began tugging on the latter’s cloak while whispering repeatedly, “What’s wrong with you?”

The Ghast Mage gently shooed him away. This motion caught Myth’s attention, causing him first to look away from the walls, and then to hastily move to supposedly study the passageways to his right.

Hermes, in turn, again noticed Myth’s behavior. He glanced down at Rusty, who continued to fuss over his creator. After a moment’s thought, Hermes crossed over to where Myth was. He could see the phoenix’s expression seemed to be one of disappointment – yet it quickly changed to distraction as the gemstone in the Staff twinkled and Myth abruptly peered upward with eyes that had turned pale orange. Hermes frowned. He reached up to touch the earring with the pressed flower, silently requesting for the magic to give him some insight and reassure him that the Staff wasn’t simply manipulating Myth just because he had knowledge of this place.

Maybe it was only a coincidence but Myth’s shoulders seemed to relax. “This one, I think,” he said thoughtfully in response to Hermes’ question from a few minutes ago. Myth looked at the young man with eyes that had returned to fully saturated orange. “I’m going to check for another clue. Could you gather the others over here?”

“Of course,” Hermes replied. He held the phoenix’s gaze for a moment longer – searching those eyes, noting the weary lines under them, lingering on the details of the four additional, horizontal scars across his right cheek. With a nod, Hermes turned to jog back to the group. “This way, everyone. El triste pájaro de fuego found the wall we need to get on top of.”

Scott glanced from the young man to the older Sausage. “Can I ask what you two are calling him? He said his name was ‘Myth’.”

Hermes and Sausage traded glances. “Welllll,” Sausage replied, stretching out the word, “I shared memories with a version of me who met Myth before, in this very place – although I’ve, eh, lost some of the details of most of them at this point. As I recall, the story behind why he goes by ‘Myth’ and not Sausage like the rest of us doesn’t have a good association. I just, uh, decided on the spot to call him triste pájaro de fuego.”

“Sorry,” Scott said, “I’m asking what does that mean? I’m not familiar with that language.”

“Judging by his attitude,” Hermes explained in a benign tone as he shifted his knapsack so he could secure the trident to it, “It seems he’s had a rough time. And he’s trying to hide it. So, he kind of strikes us as a… sorrowful firebird.” He grabbed up Rusty on his way as he turned to where Myth was standing. “Let’s not keep him waiting. I’m getting antsy to be under open skies again – if that’s alright?”

Scott accepted the explanation and nodded, although he would need to think more on this assessment of Myth’s demeanor after having only noticed the coarse edges.  He lent the Ghast Mage a supportive arm as the latter pushed off the piece of statue he had been leaning on while everyone was talking. “I don’t blame you,” Scott replied. “I prefer to know where I’m teleporting to. This place messes with my sense of spatial awareness.”

.

As planned, Hermes flew Scott up to the top of the wall Myth had indicated, then Scott began teleporting one person at a time up with him and returning for the next, starting with the Ghast Mage. Before it was Sausage’s turn, Myth gave the Staff back to him. “I need both hands free for a minute,” was all he said to explain.

Sausage merely nodded. He could feel the Staff vibrating against his hand. It wasn’t ready to leave its new wielder yet; he knew he would have to part with it again.

When Scott returned, however, Myth shook his head. “Not comfortable with that.” He bit back an explanation of the last time a Scott had teleported him around. “I’ll use my own power. Tell them I’m on my way.”

Scott hesitated, only to hop backward a second later when Myth pointed both hands at the ground and released a doubly explosive fireball, propelling himself upward. His wings flared out and with a hearty flap, he ascended farther.

Scott went ahead and teleported to the top of the wall. The others looked at him in alarm due to arriving alone – they also hadn’t missed the sound of the explosion below. “He wanted to come up on his own,” Scott explained. “Either he’s not fond of teleporting, or Ghast-sage made him nervous about it.” He tried to smile at his own joke. The anxious looks from the two Sausages made it clear the joke hadn’t landed.

They heard a sound like a hawk screech, which drew their attention over the side of the wall. A bright orange blur was quickly approaching, first appearing in the shape of a bird then resolving more clearly into Myth’s particular features. Flames streamed from his wings, hair, and eyes. The unspoken thought passed among them of how Myth could have taken off at any time to get out of the labyrinth, leaving them behind. In collective relief, the group parted to either side of where it seemed he might land.

Myth gave one last flap of his wings. In that moment all of the flames dispersed away from his body and feathers. His eyes went wide in surprise. He couldn’t make it all the way to the top on his own. He threw his hands upward out of reflex – maybe he could grab the edge—

Hermes darted to the spot everyone had vacated and dropped to his knees, reaching down to grasp hold of one of Myth’s hands just before the phoenix lost momentum. With a grunt Hermes heaved Myth upward. Through the magic granted by his sandals the young man avoided falling off the other side of the wall as he fully pulled Myth onto the top edge. He then clasped his other hand over the one he held. “Good try, mate. I had to stop myself falling the first time I flew up, too.”

“Thanks,” Myth muttered. When Hermes released his hand, Myth looked out over the tangle of walls spread out around them, taking a moment to catch his breath.

Without a word Sausage handed the Staff of Sanctuary back to Myth and the group set off, with Hermes carrying Rusty to help speed things along and Scott keeping an eye on the Ghast Mage in case he needed a rest. Occasionally Myth would take off for a short flight to confirm the correct direction to go, explaining how last time he had been guided from above by two flight-capable people. The others could follow the bright orange light as he swooped back and forth – as well as see the twinkle of the gemstone when it coincided with a change in Myth’s direction.

On the latest check and return, Myth announced that they would need to cross over five walls to the east, which was the largest change they’d had to make up to that point. This time Hermes pushed Rusty into Myth’s arms for the phoenix to carry across; previously, Sausage had merely piggybacked while Hermes carried them both, but now Hermes picked his father up in his arms for such a long distance.

Myth held Rusty gingerly in the crook of one arm, wanting to hand him off to the Ghast Mage, but when he looked to where the other had been standing he only saw a flicker of orange particles. Scott had already teleported him over to the new wall.

Rusty said quietly, “What’s wrong with you?”

Caught off guard by the tone of the question, Myth stopped short just as he was about to glide off the wall. “I’m… fine. Just focused on getting out of here.”

“No. What’s wrong with you?” Rusty asked insistently.

Myth glanced at the others, then back down at Rusty. He kept his voice low even if the distance was enough that they were unlikely to hear. “This is going to be goodbye for me. I won’t… I won’t be able to spend time with you anymore.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“No, it isn’t,” Myth replied, slightly frustrated. “We found your creator. You go back to your world with him, and I go… somewhere. I don’t really belong in your world. I can’t just stay there. My body doesn’t follow the rules of your universe. And I don’t think the multi-verse will allow more than one of me to be in the same reality for the long term. It wouldn’t be… natural.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Rusty.” Myth let the exasperation slip into his voice. “You lo— care about him more. It’s obvious. There’s no sharing. I don’t belong.” He ended the conversation by launching off the wall, producing an unintended fiery streak that vented his feelings.

The others once again backed off to give him room to land. Myth immediately pushed Rusty back onto Hermes without even looking at the young man – but Hermes saw the scowl and clenched, bared teeth in time before Myth turned away to lead them in a new direction.

.

The group traveled in silence for about ten minutes before coming across something Myth hadn’t noticed during his scouting: a small patch of sculk near the top of the wall that ran parallel to the one they were on. Since it seemed dormant, he chose to ignore it and walked past.

Scott, bringing up the rear, couldn’t take his eyes off the sculk patch. He suddenly clutched his companion’s arm.

“Ow! Careful, Scott! I’m still sore all over!” the Ghast Mage exclaimed.

“It’s bubbling!” Scott hissed in a panic.

“What? That only happens if something dies on it! That’s a vertical surface!” Ghast-sage argued.

“Everyone—!” Scott called out. “Be careful! Something weird is happening with that—”

There was a loud pop as a giant bubble formed in the middle of the sculk patch and burst. A wet splat sounded out as a cluster of sculk vein hit the side of the wall that the group was on. It was followed by a spray of purplish-turquoise spores, which struck the surface around the sculk vein. The stone then began to bubble just like the patch and soon sculk was rapidly spreading outward from where the vein had landed. It didn’t touch the very top edge of the wall, but the group watched in horror anyway. Sausage, his mouth going dry, whispered, “That’s not normal.”

Scott wanted to say that he had been trying to tell everyone this all along, but he was prevented from even uttering a single syllable by the sound of cracking and crumbling stone. Horror turned to terror as the torso of a Warden with grayish-purple moss hanging off its antennae and cushioning its exposed heart emerged from the sculk patch right below their feet.

The Warden reared upward, more of its body emerging from the sculk. It grabbed Sausage by one ankle and swung him outward, off of the wall, to send him plummeting before it began to pull the rest of itself out of the wall.

Hermes immediately dived after his father, taking Rusty with him. The copper golem was aware enough to maneuver himself around Hermes’ shoulder, ending up clinging to the young man’s knapsack so Hermes’ arms would be free to catch his father.

The Ghast Mage let out an involuntary, alarmed squeak. The Warden growled, its head whipping in his direction. As it lunged fully out of the wall to reach for him and Scott, two things happened at once: Myth threw a fireball at it, knocking it toward the opposite side of where it had emerged from and Scott, with the Ghast Mage clinging to him, chose to teleport blindly down where Sausage had fallen.

They reappeared a few blocks above the actual ground, causing them to land in a heap as Hermes was gently setting his father down on his feet. He then let Rusty down off his back. They heard the Warden roar followed by a pained cry that rang out loud enough for them to hear even at that distance. Hermes scowled in determination and launched upward, intent on aiding Myth. There was an even bigger and brighter explosion next. The sound of the Warden’s howling took on a distressed quality. It then ended in a thud that reverberated from the other side of the wall.

When Hermes reached the top, he saw Myth laying on his stomach facing the opposite side. His wings were giving off steam and he was panting. The tips of his feathers were glowing yellow. As Hermes watched, they dulled to the same orange as the rest. “Are you alright?!” he asked, leaning to offer the phoenix a hand up.

“Y-Yeah.” Myth continued to pant. “It… got me good. And… I… only knocked it off… It might still—”

They heard a roar from below, then the wall they stood on began to tremble. “Oh, no.” Myth scrambled up without Hermes’ help, then took off gliding downward. Hermes followed. His sandals could allow him to drop straight down but he stayed level with Myth’s glide, keeping watch for the Warden’s exact location.

It wasn’t trying to climb back up; instead, it was gouging at the wall as if trying to break through. Hermes could guess at the exact spot where the others were standing on the other side. “Why is it still focused on them? Surely they’re being quiet, or at least sneaking away?”

“Scott said there was something strange about the one he was chased by. I have a suspicion I know why,” Myth replied.

“We need to distract it.” Hermes pulled the trident free from his back then reached up to touch his gold lightning bolt earring for luck. He concentrated for a moment, closing his eyes. When he opened them again they were completely white and glowing brightly. Sparks danced from his hand onto the length of the trident, which he held up over his head. He halted his descent and focused on a spot next to the Warden’s feet. A blinding flash stemming from the tines of the trident zigzagged downward, striking the ground. It was accompanied by a resounding boom of thunder.

While the flash obviously wouldn’t have an effect on the Warden, the thunder certainly did. It groaned and reeled away from the wall, its paws shooting up to clutch at the base of its antennae. Myth landed and immediately started throwing fireballs at it. Each impact made it stagger and roar in pain.

Hermes drifted down, taking time to recover from what had turned out to be a strain on his energy despite having the trident…Or maybe because of it. He studied it again, trying to ascertain what quality its existing energy held that his father had hinted at. Then he remembered what he had discussed with the Ghast Mage about differences in physics depending on the reality. This trident had been imbued with powers from someone who was thunder god adjacent. All he needed to do was attune himself to its particular atmospheric frequency.

Well, as soon as there was time to try doing that. The Warden would have to be dealt with first. He watched Myth assault the creature with a barrage of fireballs until Myth himself was roaring in fury. The fireballs went from bright yellow to orange, and then to red. Apprehension prickled at Hermes; fire darkened like that when it was about to go out.

Myth’s roar dropped down to mere heavy breaths. He threw one last projectile that was more akin to a lump of charcoal than anything else. It hit the Warden on the side of its chest. The Warden responded with a sonic shriek that knocked Myth back a few steps. He steadied himself, although he now sounded desperate for air.

This made it easy for the Warden to lunge directly at him and grab at him. Myth ducked but the creature’s claws caught hold of his wings. Myth yelped. He was out of power. He could do nothing to stop the Warden from swinging him bodily into the wall not far from the hole it had been trying to create.

The Staff of Sanctuary clattered to the ground.

Cracks spread from those earlier gouges, reaching out to where Myth had impacted the wall. Myth smiled grimly. “Go ahead. See if you can finish me off, you stupid—!"

Hermes made a desperate mental pull on the trident’s energy hoping that just by coincidence he might align with its frequency. Unfortunately, for the moment there was no response beyond a tingling in his fingertips.

And then he had to cover his eyes as the Warden delivered a crushing blow to the center of Myth’s chest which was immediately followed by a brilliant explosion of fire that lit the entire passageway.

Hermes lowered his arms to see Myth in full undamaged form again, all of his feathers glowing yellow this time before darkening to orange like before. The phoenix’s eyes glowed brightly, too, and he paid the Warden back with a large fireball aimed straight into its exposed ribcage. The force of the resulting explosion’s shockwave affected the Warden, Myth, and the wall. The Warden howled as it expired. Myth was shoved right back against his initial impact spot. The wall cracked from both the pressure and the heat, with long vertical fissures racing upwards.

On both sides of the now-compromised wall, chunks of stone began to rain down. It included a piece with the patch of sculk.

Hermes grabbed onto that tingling feeling and used it to amplify his voice like a boom of thunder. “Everyone, get away from the wall!” He ran over to yank the dazed Myth out of the way as debris came tumbling down.

The havoc wasn’t enough to bring the entire wall down, thankfully. After everything stopped shaking and the sound of cracking stone stopped, the dust started to clear, revealing a gap just big enough for Myth and Hermes to squeeze through sideways. Hermes was greeted with a crushing hug from his father, who had a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face, likely caused by flying debris.

Peering around at the mess, Myth frowned at the chunk of wall that had sculk on it. It wasn’t bubbling nor was there any sculk vein spreading from it, but he now knew to be suspicious of any of it. He then glanced at his right hand, realizing he was missing something. He slipped back through the gap in the wall.

His fingers started to itch.

Myth found the end of the Staff sticking out from under the rubble that would have landed on him had Hermes not reacted so quickly. He knelt down to grasp the Staff and wiggled it a little to see if it was pinned by the fallen stone. It seemed to scrape slightly, but he was able to slide it out. When he lifted it and examined the crook for damage he saw that the gemstone had fractures running through it. It wasn’t broken yet, but he wondered what would happen to the Staff’s power if it did. He held the base of the crook tightly in one hand while tentatively reaching the other to touch the gemstone.

A jolt went through his brain upon contact. He heard what resembled the reversed sound of shattering glass. His breath appeared visible in front of his face as if he had exhaled steam or if the temperature had abruptly dropped to the cold of the grave. The lines of the fractures within the gemstones flashed blue-white for a split second, then, when he lowered his hand, the gemstone was whole again.

Myth blinked a few times and shook his head to clear it. “I should really give this thing back to the Protector,” he muttered. “It’s getting weird.”

However, as he started to squeeze through the gap to the other side while holding the Staff ahead of him, it was Hermes who took it from his grasp. “We’ve got another problem, mate.”

Myth emerged to see sculk patches forming in multiple spots along the walls around them like a stain soaking into cloth. The patch on the fallen chunk was trembling. The sound of stone crumbling grew louder. A second later, a new Warden emerged from the fallen chunk.

Myth gritted his teeth. They needed to go past it so they could find a stable part of the wall to get back on top. He clapped his hands together before approaching the Warden. Flames flickered from the corners of his eyes and along the tips of his wings as he fearlessly strode toward it. Despite being on a horizontal surface now, the Warden still needed to lever its way out of the sculk.

Just like the other one it had grayish-purple moss on its antennae and in its chest.

“Hey, mycelium monster!” Myth bellowed. “I think I know how you got like that! But I’m sure you don’t want to discuss it! So, come on! I’ve got plenty of fire where this comes from!” So saying, he began to throw fireballs aimed at the sculk that still enclosed the Warden’s legs, burning the blue-black substance.

Hermes passed the Staff to his father. In the half-second that both of them were touching it, Hermes felt a jolt that ran from that hand, up his arm, along his chest, then down his other arm to the trident. He was stunned speechless for the next breath as the jolt seemed to run down the length of the trident then bounce back the way it had come. He could feel that the weapon was vibrating in his grasp now. The tingling in his fingertips returned, buzzing in time with the trident.

Sausage seemed to be unaffected, merely gripping the Staff out of reflex as he took it from Hermes, murmuring, “He really just throws himself right at everything, huh?”

Hoping his father didn’t notice the waver in his voice from what he had just experienced, Hermes commented, “You know him better than us.”

“Well, I only met him once,” Sausage said. “But he did act the same back then, now that I think of it…”

Multiple rumblings rang out at once. The group went on alert, eyes being drawn to the various new patches of sculk that had appeared. Some were bubbling; some had bits of stone being flung out of them.

“Scott,” the Ghast Mage rasped, “Get them out of range, then be ready to skip us around.” He pointed to Rusty and Sausage, then stepped forward with smoke rising from the palms of his hands and from out of his mouth.

“Wait,” Sausage protested, “I can—”

Scott didn’t give him a chance to finish speaking. He grabbed the man and the golem by one arm each and disappeared in a burst of orange particles. They reappeared several meters down the passageway opposite the way they needed to go – which was, thankfully, free of the sculk infestation that had cropped up.

“—Help!” Sausage completed his proclamation. He glanced around, then squinted into the distance trying to glimpse the battle. He uttered a disappointed noise. “Why is everyone treating me like a helpless old man? I’m still the Guardian of Realities! Come on, now!”

“Instinct, I guess,” Scott replied. “And I think that title means we should keep you safe. Can you fight from a distance? Also, um, do you have any more food you can spare? I’m going to run out of energy fast if I follow Ghast-sage’s plan.”

As if on cue, they heard the cry of a ghast followed by explosions. A fiery glow blossomed at the other end of the passageway.

“Oh, of course! Food is still helpful, right? Eh-heheh…” Sausage chuckled meekly, then set his knapsack down to rummage through it. “I can cast spells from a distance – maybe not this distance, need to see the target, you know – but I guess I’ll use this chance to come up with something really good to use! Here you go!”

He handed Scott a bundle full of cookies. The transporter immediately shoved one into his mouth then spoke while chewing. “If you need to get closer, go slowly and watch out for new sculk appearing.” He swallowed then patted Rusty on the head. “You stay over here, okay? You need to keep safe, too.”

Another ghast shriek reached them. Scott disappeared, leaving Sausage to watch the particles flicker out as they fell to the ground. He let out a breath. “You know, Rusty, I’ve been meaning to retire. I can never resist an adventure, but maybe I should admit to myself that I really am too old for it.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“Well, I kinda doubt I’m going to be given another chance to start over and the way I ended up coming into this life was probably not how it’s supposed to go plus I had a good run this time around, getting to spend time raising my adopted children, even if my soul missed out on the first twenty-something years of it.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“It – It’s kind of a long story,” Sausage stuttered. “I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s get to some sneakin’, and I’ll do what I can to help out those scary fire-wielding versions of me!”

~*~*~

Translations:

Mijo – son

Triste pájaro de fuego – sorrowful firebird

To be Continued in [ Chapter Five ]

[ghostiebeech]

Mushy May Day 2: (Cowbell centered fics: “I made this for you”

Hello again. I think Cowbell needs more love so I am going to try to do Mushy May centered on my beloved creature Cowbell Ghoul.  This one is centered around Era IV.  Zephyr and Ifrit are gone (personally I HC them as not dead or anything sad just gone, back to the pit maybe, but my baby Cowbell is still chilling). 

I did not proof read this, if you see something weird, no you didn’t.  Enjoy!

Special thanks again to one of my favorite blogs @forlorn-crows​ for compiling the list of prompts.   

Rating: Everyone

Pairings: None.  Just a bunch of pack love. 

Word Count: ~400

Summary:  There’s a clothing thief at the ministry.  Cowbell is a crafty little thing.

Various bits of clothing had been going missing around the ministry for weeks now.  A bunch of shirts, pairs or pants, even socks!  

“What kind of crazy bastard steals somebody’s socks?” Swiss was mourning the loss of a pair of socks depicting a great white shark drinking a martini.  

Numerous siblings and members of the clergy were interrogated by the pack.  Little did they know, the thief was inside their ranks. 

Cowbell was struck with a great idea shortly before the new era of ghouls went on their tour of North America.  The ghoul had seen one of the sibling’s dogs napping on a blanket seemingly made from different t-shirts.  

Cowbell quickly got to work, sneaking into the ghouls bedrooms, snatching anything soft and eye-catching.  Nothing was safe.  Not even underwear.

The band ghouls had returned from a particularly grueling practice to find their missing articles of clothing thrown on the nest in the common room.

Upon further inspection, the pile of clothing appeared to be stitched together neatly into a large blanket.  The pack looked upon the blanket in awe, pointing out their previously thought to be lost  items of clothing.  

A shy chitter brought the pack back to reality.  Behind them stood Cowbell, looking at the floor.

The ghoulettes squealed and ran over to the multi ghoul, “Cowbell baby, did you make this?!”

Cowbell looked up at the pretty ghoulettes with a big smile.  

Love pack. 

Aether, Mountain, and Dew knew better than anybody how much Cowbell missed their previous pack.  Zephyr and Ifrit leaving left a big hole on the little ghoul’s big heart.  Aether, Mountain, and Dew were able to integrate with the new members of the pack quickly through tours and band practice, but for Cowbell it took a little longer.  Cowbell could get along with anybody.  They’d even been seen having an animated, signed conversation with a rock.  However, it took the new ghouls time to get used to the little ghoul’s quirks.

Dewdrop pulled his fellow gremlin into a big hug, “We love you, buddy.”

The rest of the ghouls had already begun to form a ghoul pile.  Aether picked up Cowbell, carefully playing them in the middle between Dew and Rain.  

Purrs and sounds of contentment filled the room as one by one each of the ghouls fell asleep.  Cowbell stayed awake, happy, surrounded by almost everybody they loved.  

[beardedmrbean]

A 30-ton shipment of a chemical that can be used as fertilizer or an explosive is missing from a California-bound railroad car after rail officials confirmed it disappeared during a trip across the West last month.

The railcar, loaded with 61,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, left Cheyenne, Wyoming on April 12, a Union Pacific spokesperson told USA TODAY Tuesday. Two weeks later it was found empty at a rail stop in the California Mojave Desert, according to a report filed with the federal National Response Center on May 10.

Dyno Nobel, an explosives manufacturer, told local station KQED News the material − "transported in pellet form in a covered hopper car similar to those used to ship coal" − likely fell from a rail car on the way to a rail siding (a short track connecting with the main track) about 30 miles from Mojave in Kern County, just east of Bakersfield.

"The railcar was sealed when it left the Cheyenne facility, and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale," the company told the outlet. "The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the railcar may have developed in transit."

In addition to Dyno, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Union Pacific are investigating the case.

Neither the FRA nor CPUC could immediately be reached by USA TODAY on Tuesday morning.

'Seal still intact'

Officials told KQED the railcar was transported back to Wyoming where it will be inspected.

"At this point in the investigation, we do not believe there is any criminal or malicious activity involved," said Kristen South, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, who works with its customers to investigate any loss of commodity or damaged freight.

"Our investigation is in its early stages because the customer recently reported the possible loss of fertilizer from one compartment of a multi-compartment railcar," South told USA TODAY Tuesday. "The fertilizer is designed for ground application and quick soil absorption. If the loss resulted from a railcar leak over the course of transportation from origin to destination, the release should pose no risk to public health or the environment."

What is ammonium nitrate?

Ammonium nitrate is explosive under certain conditions. Mixed with something flammable and exposed to flame, it can explode.

Timothy McVeigh used 2 tons of ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people in 1995.

But it's not a danger that exists in many places. That's because the chemical, once a popular fertilizer, is rarely used these days, USA TODAY reported in 2013.

Ammonium nitrate was the main suspected chemical in a Texas explosion that killed 14 people in April 2013.

The explosion at West Fertilizer Co. also injured more than 200 and left at least 50 homes uninhabitable.

[merrybrides]

8 Wedding Cake Trends

1. Heart-Shaped Cakes

We can't get enough of this adorable wedding cake trend—and you might have even already spotted it popping up on your social media feeds. Heart-shaped wedding cakes are all about whimsical details and over-the-top embellishments, which you'll love if you're into maximalist style. The Lambeth-inspired cakes, usually decorated in pastel colors like pink, purple, yellow, green or blue, are often topped off with bright red cherries that complete their vintage look. Not sure you want to try this trend for your wedding day? Heart-shaped cakes are just as cute at engagement parties, bridal showers and rehearsal dinners.

2. Garden Patch Cakes

Florals for wedding cakes? Groundbreaking. But really—in 2024, fresh flowers will adorn cakes in new ways that evoke a more abstract, organic look than ever before. Instead of meticulously placed clusters of blooms or elaborate flowers cascading down fondant tiers, the concept of this wedding cake trend is to use florals in a way that feels like they sprouted directly out of the cake. It's giving simple cottagecore garden wedding—just add a sweet gingham or checkered tablecloth. Editor's note: Your wedding cake baker and wedding florist can help you choose food-safe flowers, which is important to keep in mind when adding any type of plant or natural element to your cake.

3. Ribbons and Bows

Dainty bows are already trending for hair accessories and wedding fashion, and they'll be making their way onto wedding cakes, too. This trend is a throwback to wedding cakes of the early 2000's, and today's version falls perfectly in line with the popular coquette and balletcore aesthetics. Expect to see bows on cakes in all sizes and forms, from actual ribbons to sugar bows made of fondant, meringue or hand-piped icing. Try this pretty idea if you're into understated and timeless details, since you won't need to add many other embellishments (if any) to your cake.

4. Wavy Piping

This wedding cake trend is unlike anything we've ever seen before, and we're a little obsessed. Wavy piping, ruffled buttercream and squiggly meringue accents are all bringing unique dimension to wedding cakes. The basket weave piping technique with a wavy look around the circumference of the cake stemmed from the inspiration of 1920s women's hair styles—the short bobs with their finger waves. I love the sensual and feminine look it adds, but how it also creates depth and structure. Each ribbon belt is different to emphasize the individuality of my cakes and to the corresponding client. No two cakes are ever alike.

5. Textural and Tonal Cakes

Understated luxury, anyone? Bridging the gap between super-simple wedding cakes and highly detailed creations, monochromatic textured cakes give you the best of both worlds. An all-white color palette tones down the overall look of the cake, but upon closer inspection, the details keep it far from boring.

6. Extra-Grand Wedding Cakes

Now that big weddings are back in full swing, the desserts have to be equally as impactful. After all, what's a party without cake? The cake is now center stage again. It's a vital part of decor and getting dressed up more than ever. Extra-tall cakes (think six and seven tiers or more) will tower above dessert tables, creating a focal point at your reception venue and giving you the ultimate cake-cutting photo opportunity. And the cake itself is just the beginning—lavish embellishments and add-ons will take the whole display to the next level. Lots of flowers, not just on the cake, but surrounding the table so that it feels more like a focal art piece than a dessert.

7. Sheet Cakes

If you're going the casual route for your wedding day, consider skipping the multi-tier cake for a one-tier sheet cake instead. But if you think this is your average grocery store sheet cake, think again. What makes this wedding cake trend so noteworthy is that the sheet cakes are decorated just as much as (if not more than) vertical cakes, complete with fresh flowers, intricate piping and other decorative techniques. The main difference? Because of their horizontal design, sheet cakes won't need as much structural support—and they're a great option to maximize the amount of cake you can serve at once.

8. Unique Cake Flavors

There's always going to be a time and place for classic vanilla sponge cake and buttercream frosting, but you don't have to play it safe on your wedding day. If trusty standbys like chocolate or red velvet just aren't doing it for you, draw inspiration from experimental avant-garde menus and seasonal flavors instead.

I truly believe in keeping things seasonal and I hope that the wedding cake industry can tune in more to this. I believe we will see more focus on seasonality and the use of various grains with a different twist on traditional flavor pairings. Think certain fruit fillings infused with various spices or herbs, such as citrus and coriander, or my all-time favorite and go-to: strawberry and bay leaf jam.

[hotpotrandomfics]

Riordanverse OC Profile: Emilio Victor (V.) Silverio-Azarello

Full Name: Emilio Victor (V.) Silverio-Azarello

Alias/Nicknames: Em, V., Dark Knight, Styx's Problem Child, River Boy

Godly Lineage: Styx (mother), Kymopoleia (ancestor), Guabancex (ancestor)

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Birthday: August, 7th

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Species: Demigod

Language: English, Spanish, French, Portugues, Cantonese, Ancient Greek

Hairstyle, Hair Color: Undercut with Medium Fade, Obsidian Black

Eye Shape and Color: Upturned and Obsidian Black

Lip Shape: Bow Shaped

Nose Shape: Straight

Face Shape: Oval

Body Type: 

Mesomorph

Swimmer-toned physique

Extra Traits: 

Birthmarks

Left Cheek Bone

Right Collarbone

Left Shoulder

Scars:

Right shoulder, hydra claw

Left oblique, sword

Height: 5'10

Skin tone: Almond Brown

Ethnicities: Puerto Rican, Dominican, Brazilian, Spanish

Style of dress: Natural, relaxed but functional. Jeans, running sneakers or hiking boots, t-shirts or plaid long sleeves, a pair of rings in one hand with one ring on the opposite. Colors of olive green, forest green, black, grey, and white.

Personality: At first glance, they appear self-centered or intolerant but on closer inspection, they're pragmatic, honest, and compassionate, especially to those who've been harmed or wronged unjustly.

Strengths: Adaptability, Perseverance, Humility

Flaws: Pushes others away, self-confidence

Fatal flaw: Excessive Personal Loyalty

Likes and Hobbies: Latin American and Italian coffee, medium-rare cooked meats, martial arts tournaments, dogs, cats, and otters

Dislikes: Promise breakers, liars, heavy sweets, and people pleasers

Voice: Crisp and ethereal

Fears or Phobias: Atychiphobia 

Favorite Color: Sea Green

Favorite animal: Otters

Favorite possession: N/A

Favorite food: Churrasco steak with rice, beans, and fried yuca root

Least Favourite food: War Heads

Love interest: N/A

Best friends: N/A

Friends: N/A

Enemies: N/A

Rivals: N/A

Powers:

Hydrokinesis (Includes):

Water Immunity

Water Solidification

Water Empowerment

Toxikinesis (limited)

Atmokinesis (Includes):

Aerokinesis

Storm Spirit Communication

Oath Binding (Includes):

Necromancy 

Umbrakinesis (Includes):

Shadow Travel

Odikinesis

Hypnokinesis

Enhanced Strength

Enhanced Durability

Enhanced Stamina

Weapon(s):

Oath's Bane (multi-formed weapon, Kali/Eskrima sticks initially form) 

Kali/Eskrima Sticks: Stygian Iron/Silver

Baat Jaam Do (Butterfly Sword): Stygian Iron/Silver

Luk Dim Boon Kwun (6 & 1/2 Pole) Stygian Iron/Silver

Fighting style(s):

Unarmed:

Wing Chun

Kali/Eskrima

Pencak Silat

Kickboxing

Jiu Jitsu

Armed:

Swordsmanship

Wing Chun

Kali/Eskrima

Pencak Silat

Archery

Backstory: Born to a reformed criminal turned lawyer, Emilio grew up in Tampa, Florida, and was raised by his father, Enrique, who served in the state attorney office of the city. Emilio didn't care for much as his father provided all he needed but never allowed his son to have anything without fulfilling some promise or obligation. An effective method to prevent his son from becoming a spoiled brat, Enrique enrolled the young boy in multiple martial arts schools to help him develop discipline and mental fortitude especially given that he could potentially become a target because of his father's past. 

During hurricane season when he was seven, Emilio saw three women from his window in the middle of the bay. They appeared to be arguing as the hurricane became more violent so did the body language of those women. To his surprise, they all pointed in his direction and he ran to his father as he was in the middle of going over a case. Comforting his son, Enrique assured Emilio he was safe and that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Eventually, the young boy would peer into the veil that was the Mist and question what happened during that storm and why one of the women stared at him with a mix of pain, contempt, and something else...

[p-s-smith-author]

Fate's Dilemma

A link to one of my stories

Fate's Dilemma

Fate sat motionless at her loom as she weaved the story of Olith and its people. Her fingers glided over the threads as the shuttle danced through. In her realm, nothing moved while everything moved. Fate had no form, and yet, she appeared in an infinite variety of shapes.

Suddenly, she paused as her trunk hovered over her work and sniffed. Then, she ran a tentacle over her work and the thread she had been working with, while an eye stalk inspected everything.

“Is everything alright?” Fate said to himself as he rested a paw on the top of the frame of the loom.

“A card has a bent corner,” she said in reply as she leaned back from the table. Slowly, four of her six multi-faceted eyes blinked slowly at herself.

Fate picked the card up in one of her claws while the other claw touched the corner. If the mass of ooze that was Fate had a face, it would have had a frown as the dice floated through its body. Its quivering mass rolled up from the floor causing the dice to roll over and over.

Fate stood up from leaning over the book. “Yes, there is a stain in the book. The end of an age. That happens. It has happened countless times before on countless other worlds, and it will happen again, countless times more.”

It used a copper rod to point to the last line it had written. “It is not just that the page is flawed, but now the ink will not set. The world is in chaos, dying.”

“All worlds die, but this is premature. We must correct this, but what we have done, we cannot undo.”

For several minutes, Fate looked at the problem. Her forked tongue darted out periodically. Several times, it touched its work, then looked at the remainder. “This will fix it,” she finally said.

She pulled some of the thread from the bobbin, licked her fingers and ran them across the thread. The frayed strands adhered to the thread, making it smooth once again. She then used a needle to prick her finger and placed a drop of her yellow blood on the thread before rolling it back on the bobbin. Satisfied, she began weaving again.

Fate resumed her work. To herself she thought, “I have given the world a chance to abate the chaos so it may live its full measure. The Spring of the World is all but gone, but my instrument has the ability to rebalance the world. This may save the others for a while longer. But at what cost? Even we do not yet know.”

[bigfiregarden]

Webbing Sling: A Comprehensive Guide to Its Uses and Benefits

Introduction to Webbing Sling

A Webbing Sling is a versatile and durable lifting tool widely used in various industries, including construction, logistics, and marine operations. Made from high-strength synthetic materials like polyester or nylon, these slings offer flexibility, strength, and resistance to abrasion, making them ideal for heavy-duty applications.

Unlike traditional wire ropes or chains, Webbing Slings are lightweight, easy to handle, and safer for lifting delicate loads due to their soft texture. This guide explores the types, benefits, applications, and safety considerations of Webbing Slings to help you understand their importance in modern lifting operations.

Types of Webbing Slings

1. Flat Webbing Slings

Flat Webbing Slings are the most common type, featuring a single-ply or multi-ply design. They are flexible and can conform to the shape of the load, providing better weight distribution. These slings are ideal for lifting irregularly shaped objects.

2. Endless Round Slings

Also known as grommet slings, endless round slings form a continuous loop, offering equal load distribution from all angles. They are perfect for applications requiring a balanced lift, such as machinery or large pipes.

3. Twisted Webbing Slings

Twisted Webbing Slings are designed with a twisted or braided structure, enhancing their strength and durability. They are commonly used in heavy industrial lifting where extra reinforcement is needed.

4. Eye & Eye Slings

These slings have reinforced loops (eyes) at both ends, allowing for easy attachment to hooks or other lifting devices. They are highly versatile and widely used in rigging and towing operations.

Key Benefits of Using Webbing Slings

1. Lightweight and Easy to Handle

Unlike metal chains or wire ropes, Webbing Slings are significantly lighter, reducing worker fatigue and improving efficiency in lifting operations.

2. High Load Capacity

Despite their lightweight nature, Webbing Slings can handle extremely heavy loads, with some rated for several tons. Their synthetic fibers distribute weight evenly, minimizing stress points.

3. Damage-Resistant

Webbing Slings are resistant to abrasion, chemicals, and UV rays, ensuring long-term durability even in harsh environments.

4. Safe for Delicate Loads

The soft texture of Webbing Slings prevents scratches or damage to sensitive surfaces, making them ideal for lifting painted, polished, or fragile materials.

5. Cost-Effective

Compared to metal alternatives, Webbing Slings are more affordable while offering comparable (or superior) performance in many applications.

Common Applications of Webbing Slings

1. Construction Industry

In construction, Webbing Slings are used to lift heavy materials like steel beams, concrete panels, and scaffolding. Their flexibility allows for secure handling of bulky or awkwardly shaped items.

2. Marine and Offshore Operations

Due to their resistance to saltwater and corrosion, Webbing Slings are widely used in shipbuilding, dock loading, and offshore rigging.

3. Automotive and Manufacturing

Manufacturing plants rely on Webbing Slings to move vehicle parts, machinery, and assembly components safely.

4. Warehousing and Logistics

Forklifts and cranes often use Webbing Slings to lift pallets, containers, and other heavy goods without causing damage.

5. Emergency and Rescue Operations

Firefighters and rescue teams use Webbing Slings for lifting debris, stabilizing vehicles, or performing high-angle rescues due to their strength and reliability.

Safety Considerations When Using Webbing Slings

While Webbing Slings are highly durable, improper use can lead to accidents. Follow these safety guidelines:

1. Regular Inspections

Before each use, inspect the sling for cuts, fraying, or chemical damage. A damaged sling should be replaced immediately.

2. Avoid Overloading

Always check the Webbing Sling’s load rating and never exceed its working load limit (WLL). Overloading can cause sudden failure.

3. Proper Storage

Store Webbing Slings in a dry, cool place away from direct sunlight and chemicals to prevent degradation.

4. Correct Rigging Techniques

Ensure the sling is properly secured with appropriate knots or hooks. Avoid sharp edges that could cut the webbing.

5. Training and Certification

Workers handling Webbing Slings should receive proper training to understand load dynamics, rigging methods, and safety protocols.

Conclusion

Webbing Slings are an essential tool in modern lifting and rigging operations, offering unmatched versatility, strength, and safety. Whether in construction, marine, or rescue applications, their lightweight yet durable design makes them a preferred choice over traditional metal slings.

By understanding the different types, benefits, and safety measures, businesses and workers can maximize efficiency while minimizing risks. Investing in high-quality Webbing Slings ensures long-term reliability and cost savings in various industrial applications.

If you’re looking for a reliable lifting solution, Webbing Slings provide the perfect balance of performance and safety. Always choose certified products from trusted manufacturers to ensure compliance with industry standards.

[pepy1]

Shielding Your Assets: The Indispensable Role of Security Grill Rolling Shutters in the UAE

In the dynamic and security-conscious environment of the United Arab Emirates, businesses and homeowners alike prioritize robust protection for their properties. Among the myriad of security solutions available, security grill rolling shutter in uae stands out as a formidable and versatile option. These shutters, designed to combine visibility with impenetrable strength, play a crucial role in safeguarding assets against unauthorized access and potential threats.

The Unique Security Challenges of the UAE Landscape:

The UAE's rapid economic growth and cosmopolitan nature have attracted businesses and residents from around the globe. While this diversity brings prosperity, it also necessitates heightened security measures. Retail outlets, warehouses, and even residential properties face the risk of theft, vandalism, and unauthorized entry. Security grill rolling shutters provide a tangible deterrent, offering a visible layer of protection that discourages potential intruders.

Understanding the Functionality and Benefits:

Security grill rolling shutters are constructed from interconnected metal grilles, typically steel or aluminum, forming a robust barrier. The open grille design allows for ventilation and visibility, making them ideal for storefronts, display windows, and areas where airflow is essential. The shutters operate on a rolling mechanism, retracting into a compact housing when not in use, maximizing space utilization.

The benefits of these shutters are manifold:

Enhanced Security: The robust metal construction and secure locking mechanisms provide a formidable barrier against forced entry.

Visual Deterrent: The visible grille design acts as a strong deterrent, discouraging potential intruders.

Ventilation and Visibility: The open grille structure allows for airflow and visibility, ideal for retail displays and areas requiring ventilation.

Space Optimization: The rolling mechanism maximizes space utilization, making them suitable for areas with limited headroom.

Durability and Longevity: Constructed from high-quality materials, these shutters are designed to withstand harsh weather conditions and provide long-lasting performance.

Applications Across Diverse Sectors:

Security grill rolling shutters find applications across a wide range of sectors in the UAE:

Retail Outlets: They provide secure protection for storefronts and display windows, allowing merchandise to be visible even when closed.

Warehouses and Industrial Facilities: They secure loading docks, storage areas, and access points, preventing unauthorized entry and theft.

Commercial Buildings: They secure entrances, lobbies, and parking garages, enhancing overall building security.

Residential Properties: They secure garages, patios, and windows, providing an added layer of protection for homes.

Banks and Financial Institutions: They secure entrances and teller areas, providing a robust security solution for high-risk environments.

Key Considerations for Selection and Installation:

When selecting security grill rolling shutters, several factors should be considered:

Material Quality: Opt for shutters made from high-strength materials, such as galvanized steel or aluminum, to ensure durability and longevity.

Grille Design: Choose a grille design that balances security, visibility, and ventilation.

Locking Mechanisms: Select shutters with secure locking mechanisms, such as multi-point locking systems or heavy-duty padlocks.

Motorized Operation: Consider motorized operation for added convenience and ease of use, especially for large or frequently used shutters.

Professional Installation: Ensure that the shutters are installed by experienced technicians to guarantee proper operation and security.

Maintenance: Regular maintenance, including lubrication and inspection, is essential to ensure optimal performance and longevity.

The Importance of Professional Installation and Maintenance:

The effectiveness of security grill rolling shutters depends heavily on proper installation and maintenance. Professional installation ensures that the shutters are correctly fitted, securely anchored, and operate smoothly. Regular maintenance, including lubrication of moving parts and inspection for damage, is essential to ensure optimal performance and longevity.

Adapting to the Evolving Security Landscape:

The security landscape is constantly evolving, with new threats and technologies emerging. Security grill rolling shutters are adaptable and can be integrated with advanced security systems, such as CCTV cameras, alarm systems, and access control systems. This integration provides enhanced protection and real-time monitoring, ensuring that businesses and homeowners stay ahead of potential threats.

Conclusion: 

In the final assessment, security grill rolling shutter in uae transcend their role as mere physical barriers; they represent a strategic investment in peace of mind. Their enduring presence across diverse sectors underscores their adaptability and effectiveness in addressing the region's dynamic security challenges. These shutters are not merely a reaction to potential threats but a proactive measure, a visual testament to a commitment to safeguarding assets and ensuring a secure environment.

 Security grill rolling shutters play a vital role in the UAE's security infrastructure, providing a robust and versatile solution for protecting assets against unauthorized access and potential threats. 

[rkcranetrucksolutions]

Crane Truck Hire Regulations and Compliance in 2025 in Australia

The year 2025 marks a significant turning point in the way crane truck operations are regulated and managed. Driven by rapid technological advancements and an increased emphasis on sustainable practices, regulatory bodies worldwide are implementing stricter guidelines to ensure that every aspect of crane truck hire—from operator training and equipment maintenance to digital monitoring and environmental impact—is meticulously controlled and transparent. In this dynamic regulatory landscape, understanding and adapting to these new standards is not only a legal necessity but also a critical component of operational efficiency and risk management. Moreover, the evolution of digital technologies has revolutionised traditional operational practices. Today, integrated systems using IoT sensors, telematics, and real-time data analytics have become essential tools for monitoring the performance and safety compliance of crane trucks. These digital tools provide operators and regulatory bodies with unprecedented levels of detail and accountability, enabling proactive maintenance, prompt incident reporting, and immediate corrective actions. As a result, companies that hire or operate crane trucks must now invest in advanced technology and comprehensive training programmes to keep pace with these rapid changes. In this detailed guide, we will delve into the complexities of crane truck hire Sydney regulations and compliance in 2025. We will explore the latest regulatory changes, examine best practices for maintaining operational safety and environmental responsibility, and provide actionable insights to help businesses navigate this challenging yet transformative landscape. Whether you are a contractor, fleet operator, or logistics provider, understanding these evolving standards is essential for ensuring that your operations remain compliant, efficient, and sustainable in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Federal and State Regulations

Australia’s regulatory environment for crane truck operations is multi-layered:

Safe Work Australia Guidelines: These provide national guidance on safety practices, risk management, and operator competency.

State-Specific Legislation: Each state and territory may have additional requirements. For example, New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland have introduced stricter licencing and operational standards to reduce workplace accidents.

AS/NZS Standards: Compliance with Australian/New Zealand standards, such as AS 2550 for crane operations, is essential to ensure safety and reliability.

Updates for 2025

This year marks the introduction of several key changes:

Enhanced Inspection Protocols: Regular and more rigorous inspections are now mandated.

Digital Compliance Records: Operators are required to maintain up-to-date digital logs of maintenance, inspections, and training certifications.

Expanded Operator Training: New training modules focus on modern crane technology and emergency response procedures.

Licencing and Permitting Requirements

Operator Licencing

Before hiring a crane truck, it’s imperative to verify that the operator holds the appropriate licences:

High-Risk Work Licences: Operators must possess a current High-Risk Work Licence (HRWL) that specifically covers crane operations.

Continued Education: Ongoing training and certification updates are now required to meet the 2025 standards.

Vehicle and Equipment Permits

Crane truck hire companies must ensure that their equipment is legally certified:

Vehicle Registration: Regular vehicle inspections and certifications are necessary to ensure the crane truck is roadworthy.

Load Testing Certificates: Periodic load testing ensures that the crane can safely handle its rated capacity.

Safety Standards and Maintenance Protocols

Routine Inspections

Routine inspections form the backbone of compliance:

Pre-Operation Checks: Daily checks should cover critical components such as hydraulic systems, lifting mechanisms, and control systems.

Scheduled Maintenance: Operators must adhere to a strict maintenance schedule as outlined by the manufacturer and regulatory bodies.

Risk Management and Safety Planning

Developing a comprehensive safety plan is non-negotiable:

Site-Specific Risk Assessments: Before operations commence, a thorough risk assessment of the site must be completed.

Emergency Procedures: Clear, rehearsed emergency protocols should be in place to handle any unexpected incidents.

Insurance and Liability Considerations

Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

Given the high-risk nature of crane truck operations, robust insurance policies are essential:

Public Liability Insurance: This covers damages or injuries to third parties.

Equipment and Operator Insurance: Ensure that both the equipment and the operator are covered for accidents, theft, or mechanical failures.

Legal Liabilities

Non-compliance can result in severe legal repercussions:

Fines and Penalties: Regulatory bodies have the authority to impose heavy fines for breaches in safety or operational protocols.

Project Delays: Non-compliance might lead to project shutdowns, which can have significant financial and reputational impacts.

Best Practices for Achieving Compliance

Choosing a Reputable Hire Company

When selecting a crane truck hire service:

Verify Certification: Ensure that the company provides up-to-date compliance certificates and inspection records.

Check References: Look for client testimonials or case studies that demonstrate adherence to safety and regulatory standards.

Implementing In-House Safety Programmes

For companies that frequently require crane truck services:

Internal Audits: Regularly audit your operational procedures to ensure ongoing compliance.

Staff Training: Invest in regular training sessions and refreshers to keep all team members informed about the latest safety protocols.

Embracing Technology

Leverage modern technology to streamline compliance:

Digital Logbooks: Transition from paper-based records to digital systems that provide real-time data and alerts.

Telematics and Monitoring: Utilise telematics to monitor crane truck performance and preemptively address maintenance issues.

Conclusion

In 2025, crane truck hire in Australia is governed by an intricate network of regulations designed to safeguard all stakeholders. By understanding the latest requirements—from licencing and inspections to safety planning and digital compliance—businesses can mitigate risks, avoid legal pitfalls, and ensure smooth project execution. Whether you’re a contractor, a hire company, or a site manager, staying compliant is not just about following the law; it’s about building a culture of safety and excellence in every operation.

Embrace these best practices, keep your records updated, and choose reputable partners to ensure that your crane truck hire operations remain safe, efficient, and compliant in 2025 and beyond.

[darko-china]

Causes and Solutions for Air Slide Conveyor Blockage

The Air Slide Conveyor is widely used for pneumatic conveying of dry powder materials, especially in the cement industry for transporting cement and raw meal. Compared to screw conveyors and belt conveyors, the Air Slide Conveyor has no moving parts, is easy to maintain, has good sealing, operates quietly, and ensures safe and reliable operation. It also allows for easy direction changes and multi-point feeding and discharging. However, improper installation, operation, and maintenance can lead to blockage in the Air Slide Conveyor.

1. Causes of Conveyor Blockage

1.1 High Material Moisture

High moisture content in materials reduces the air permeability of the conveyor, leading to blockage.

1.2 Incomplete Slag Removal

If the slag is not adequately removed before the raw meal enters the storage, iron slag and small particles may accumulate in the conveyor, hindering airflow and causing blockage.

1.3 Broken Perforated Plates

If the perforated plates inside the conveyor are broken, air can leak through gaps, forming air columns that accumulate material and lead to blockage.

1.4 Poor Sealing

If the conveyor is not well-sealed, excessive air leakage may prevent proper material fluidization, resulting in blockage.

1.5 Improper Installation Angle

If the conveyor's installation angle is too small, the material flow speed decreases. Sudden changes in material properties or airflow can cause blockage.

1.6 Material Condensation

After shutdown, if material remains in the conveyor and cools down, condensation may occur, making the material sticky and difficult to flow.

1.7 Delayed Exhaust

If the exhaust from the conveyor is delayed, trapped air can exert downward pressure on the material, preventing it from flowing freely and causing blockage.

2. Solutions for Conveyor Blockage

When blockage occurs in an Air Slide Conveyor, immediately stop the system and clean it. Identify the cause and implement the following measures:

2.1 Material-Related Solutions

Reduce Moisture: Ensure that the moisture content of incoming materials is below 50°C and stop the cooling water.

Control Water Spray: Limit the water spray inside the mill to no more than 2% of the mill's output.

Pre-Dry Materials: Pre-dry materials with high moisture content before milling.

Regular Inspections: Check for loose bolts during external water spraying and tighten them as needed.

Proper Operation: Start the Air Slide Conveyor a few minutes before starting the mill.

Handle Slag Properly: If the milled material contains a lot of slag, remove it to prevent entry into the conveyor.

Clean Before Shutdown: Clean the conveyor of materials before shutting down; start the conveyor a few minutes before feeding materials to avoid condensation issues.

2.2 Chute-Related Solutions

Install Alarm Devices: Place automatic alarm devices at the conveyor's feed end to close the feed port or stop the system in case of blockage.

Regular Monitoring: Frequently check the conveyor's working condition and address any abnormalities promptly.

Replace Broken Plates: Replace broken perforated plates in a timely manner. Look for "bubbling" in the material to identify issues.

Seal Air Leaks: Use sealing materials like graphite rope or rubber to fix leaks in the conveyor.

Set Locking Devices: Install locking devices at the conveyor's feed end to maintain stable airflow.

Pressure Measurement: Install pressure measurement devices at intervals along the conveyor to monitor pressure changes.

Exhaust Pipe Setup: Set up exhaust pipes or bag filters at the conveyor's tail to ensure timely removal of trapped air.

By implementing these measures, you can effectively reduce blockage in Air Slide Conveyors and improve the system's efficiency and reliability.For more information or technical support, please feel free to contact us. We are here to assist you!

[fbiinspectiontechnology]

The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Your Manufacturing Investment in Asia

In today's global marketplace, manufacturing in Asia represents both an incredible opportunity and a significant challenge for businesses worldwide. While the region offers competitive advantages, protecting your manufacturing investment requires careful planning and robust quality assurance measures. This comprehensive guide will walk you through essential strategies to safeguard your interests and ensure consistent product quality.

Understanding the Stakes in Asian Manufacturing

When venturing into Asian manufacturing, companies often focus primarily on cost savings. However, successful businesses understand that protecting their investment goes far beyond initial pricing considerations. Manufacturing safeguards must be implemented from the very beginning to prevent quality issues, production delays, and potential financial losses.

One business owner recently shared, "We learned the hard way that saving on quality control meant paying double in product returns and reputation damage. Now we know better – prevention is always cheaper than cure."

Essential Steps to Protect Your Investment

1. Thorough Initial Assessment

Before committing to any manufacturing partnership, conducting a comprehensive factory audit is crucial. This initial step helps you:

Evaluate production capabilities

Assess management systems

Verify compliance with international standards

Identify potential risks early in the process

A professional factory audit provides invaluable insights into your potential partner's operations and helps prevent future complications.

2. Implementing Quality Control Systems

Quality control forms the backbone of successful manufacturing operations. Working with experienced quality control inspectors ensures that:

Product specifications are met consistently

Materials meet required standards

Production processes follow established protocols

Defects are caught before shipment

Remember, quality isn't expensive – it's priceless when it comes to protecting your brand's reputation.

3. Regular Monitoring and Inspection

Establishing a reliable third party inspection process is vital for maintaining consistent quality standards. These inspections should occur at various stages:

Pre-production evaluation

During-production checks

Pre-shipment inspection

Loading supervision

Regular monitoring helps identify issues early, allowing for timely corrections and preventing costly mistakes.

Building Strong Quality Assurance Framework

Successful manufacturing in Asia requires a multi-layered approach to quality assurance. Consider implementing:

Clear Quality Standards

Document detailed product specifications, acceptable quality limits (AQL), and testing requirements. This documentation serves as a reference point for both manufacturers and inspectors.

Regular Communication

Maintain open channels with your manufacturing partners. Regular video calls, progress reports, and site visits help ensure alignment with your quality expectations.

Professional Quality Control Team

Whether in-house or through third-party services, having dedicated quality control personnel is essential. These professionals understand local manufacturing practices and can effectively communicate with factory staff.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Learning from others' experiences can help you navigate common challenges:

Inadequate Specification Documentation Unclear or incomplete specifications often lead to quality issues. Ensure all requirements are documented in detail.

Relying Solely on Factory QC While factory quality control is important, independent third-party inspection provides unbiased verification of quality standards.

Irregular Monitoring Consistent oversight is key to maintaining quality standards. Sporadic inspections often lead to gradual quality deterioration.

Investing in Long-term Success

Protecting your manufacturing investment in Asia is an ongoing process that requires dedication and resources. Consider these long-term strategies:

Relationship Building

Strong relationships with manufacturers often lead to better communication and higher quality standards. However, maintain professional oversight through regular factory audits and inspections.

Continuous Improvement

Work with your manufacturing partners to implement continuous improvement programs. This might include:

Regular training sessions

Process optimization

Quality system updates

Technology upgrades

Making the Right Choice

When selecting quality assurance partners, consider their:

Experience in your industry

Local presence and understanding

Communication capabilities

Technical expertise

Track record of success

The Path Forward

Protecting your manufacturing investment in Asia requires a balanced approach combining rigorous quality control, regular monitoring, and strong partnerships. While the initial investment in proper quality assurance might seem significant, it typically represents a fraction of the potential costs of quality failures.

Remember, successful manufacturing in Asia isn't just about finding the lowest price – it's about building sustainable partnerships that deliver consistent quality while protecting your investment for the long term.

By implementing these strategies and working with experienced quality assurance professionals, you can significantly reduce risks and build a successful manufacturing operation in Asia. The key is remaining vigilant and maintaining consistent oversight of your manufacturing processes.

Start implementing these practices today to protect your manufacturing investment and ensure long-term success in Asian manufacturing. The effort you invest in quality assurance will pay dividends in product quality, customer satisfaction, and brand reputation.