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fridaythe13ththeseries · 1 year

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Night Prey

Episode Recap #60: Night Prey Original Airdate: November 25, 1989

Starring: Louise Robey as Micki Foster Steve Monarque as Johnny Ventura (as Steven Monarque) Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak

Guest cast: Michael Burgess as Kurt Bachman Eric Murphy as Evan Van Hellier Genevieve Langlois as Michele Vincent Dale as Tom Baker Jill Hennessy as Vampire Woman Donald Carrier as Finn (as Don Carrier) Dan MacDonald as Father McKinnon Tamara Gorski as Hooker Kirk Austensen as Young Preppie Matt Birman as Doorman Helen Sofos as Woman with Michele Wally Bolland as Security Guard (as Wally Bollard)

Written by Peter Mohan Directed by Armand Mastroianni

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open on Jack, sitting on a bench by the water, remembering about a time in 1969 and when someone he knew took a wrong path. We see a couple enjoying a romantic dinner back then, unaware another man is watching them from the shadows. Later, they stroll by the shore, and kiss, when suddenly, the man from earlier swoops down. He knocks the man out and bids the woman to come with him. She falls under some trance as the man reveals vampire fangs and bites her as her paramour awakens. He calls to Michele as she is lifted off as the vampire flies away.

Cut to credits.

Cut to the present, and a voiceover from Jack saying for 20 years the man, Kurt Bachman, learned the ways of the vampires and hunted them. Jack thinks this hunt twisted the man. But that this night, Kurt's path crossed with Jack's.

A woman is leading a man away from a club. The hunter Kurt follows them. The young man is reluctant, since she leads him to an alley, but he goes. They make out a bit, the hunter grows closer. She bites the man's lip, then kisses it. Suddenly, she bares her fangs and attacks the young man, killing him. As she rises up, Kurt appears with a crucifix, which she knocks aside with him. She goes in for the kill, but he has a wooden stake and she lands on it and dies. Kurt takes off.

As he runs, he hears a vampire above somewhere, screeching. Kurt breaks into a church to hide and finds a crucifix in a glass case. He breaks it open and a priest comes out to stop him. They struggle and Kurt accidentally kills the priest when a blade comes out of the bottom of this cross. It then glows in his hands. The vampire is levitating outside the window, watching. Another priest comes out, in shock at the body, and Kurt takes off. Outside, he can't find the vampire. He hides the cross in his coat.

Later at the church, Jack and Micki are told about the death of the priest, who was an old friend of Jack's. Micki asks about the stolen cross, and the young priest says it was valuable, called The Cross of Fire, and that it was from The Crusades. He mentions the blade inside, as well. He also describes the hunter to them.

Back at the store, Johnny has beer and pizza, but Jack is in no mood. Micki explains about the priest, then looks in the manifest to see if the Cross of Fire is one of their items.

Outside a club, Kurt watches as people arrive. He sees the vampire from year ago with a woman he thinks is Michele. He tries to follow them in to the club, but the guard stops him. The vampire, Evan Van Hellier, is the owner of the club. Kurt is turned away.

Micki and Johnny find the cross in the manifest.

Kurt tries another way in to the club, but the guard again stops him. Kurt pulls out the still glowing cross, and a beam of fire and light shoots out of it and kills the guard. Kurt runs when he hears other guards and Van Hellier come to investigate.

Johnny shows Micki an article about the murder at the club, the description matching the man who killed the priest. They also read about the woman killed in the alley and wonder if it is all connected. Jack tells them to visit the young Father Finn for more information and he is going to go talk to Van Hellier.

In an old factory warehouse, Kurt is also reading the article and holds the cross, repeating Evan Van Hellier's name.

Jack arrives at Van Hellier's mansion. An assistant, Tom Baker, answers the door and says Van Hellier is away. Jack asks about the murder at the club, and mentions that he thinks it is connected to the priest's murder. Jack mentions the stolen cross, but Baker has no more information. Jack leaves his card.

At Curious Goods, Micki fills them in on the Cross of Fire, which was first used outside of Transylvania, but seems to be used by superstitious people. Jack says Lewis' curse could have made it into a true vampire killing weapon. Jack tells them about being unable to see Van Hellier. They speculate that the man using the Cross may be using it to hunt actual vampires. He sends Micki and Johnny to stake out the club.

Kurt shows up at the mansion asking to see Van Hellier. The security guard is reluctant, but Kurt shows him the Cross and says his boss might be interested in it. Kurt then releases the blade and kills the guard, powering up the cursed item. He runs toward the mansion.

Breaking in a door, he slips inside, looking for Van Hellier. The place is dark, but then Van Hellier slams the piano. Kurt accuses the vampire of killing his wife. Van Hellier asks who he is, then bares his fangs and tosses Kurt to the floor. Kurt pulls out the glowing Cross and the vampire flees.

Kurt makes his way upstairs and finds two vampire women in bed. He uses the cross to kill one of them, and finds that the other vampire is his wife, Michele.

Kurt brings her back to the factory, where he chains her up. He has a shrine for her with old photos and candles. He tells her not to be afraid. He says she'll be safe once he kills Van Hellier, but she says to stay away, she isn't the person he remembers. She just wants to be let go, but Kurt wants vengeance.

Jack is surprised when Micki is home, but she says the club closed at 3am and everyone went home. Jack says the clubgoers might have been vampires. Micki wonders why her and Johnny weren't attacked. He tells Micki to go to bed, he has to write the eulogy for the priest's funeral tomorrow. Micki is worried about Jack. He feels like even with all they do, there is still so much death.

Van Hellier and Baker arrive at the factory, since the vampire can sense Michele is inside. The go to find her. Michele can also feel his presence, and Kurt grabs the cross to find them first. Kurt and Baker, the assistant, struggle, as Van Hellier tries to get past all the garlic and protections keeping him from Michele. Van Hellier cuts his arm so Michele can feed on his blood.

Kurt stabs Baker, but he he pushes Kurt off and runs. A weakened Van Hellier also flees. Outside, then sun hurts Van Hellier, so Baker pushes him into the car and they speed off. Baker mentions Jack having visited the mansion and maybe they can get answers from him.

Kurt goes to Michele, who tells him that holding her there is killing her, but Kurt only sees the woman he used to love and cannot free her. She then asks him to feed her.

Jack and Micki are back home after the funeral, having a drink in his friend's memory. As Jack goes to change, Micki notices a man at the door, who introduces himself as Evan Van Hellier. Micki invites him inside. He says he has information that could help Jack. Van Hellier slightly works his charms on Micki, but Jack comes back. Van Hellier says he owns the old warehouse, and rented it to Kurt Bachman, who showed him the Cross he had. As Van Hellier talks, Jack notices a mirror and Van Hellier has no reflection. Van Hellier gives them the warehouse address, and Jack plays it cool. After the vampire leaves, Jack gets some holy water. He tells Micki they are going to pick up Johnny and head to the warehouse.

Kurt walks a street and approaches a prostitute. He takes her back to the warehouse, where the woman is surprised to see Michele. But Kurt reminds her he paid already, so she goes to Michele, who acts gentle and then lightly bites. The woman gasps, but Kurt holds her and tells her not to be afraid. Michele then feeds on her, killing her, as Kurt watches. They hold hands.

Micki, Johnny and Jack arrive at the warehouse, and Kurt goes to investigate. Michele tries to stop him, and says Van Hellier never hurt her, he loves her. Kurt asks if she loves him and she doesn't answer. He takes off.

Kurt finds Micki and tries to kill her with cross, but Johnny intervenes. Micki gets the cross, Kurt runs off. Jack tells the others they need to get out of there.

A frustrated Kurt goes back to Michele. She tells him to go while he can, but he won't go without her.

Outside, Van Hellier and Baker watch Micki and crew leave the factory with the Cross. They go to enter the factory to find Michele.

Kurt wants Michele to turn him into a vampire, but she is reluctant. Kurt kisses her as he pleads. She bites him.

Micki wants to go back in to stop Kurt and whatever is going on, but Jack doesn't want to endanger their lives since they have recovered the Cross. He knows Van Hellier tricked them. Micki says without the Cross, Kurt is a sitting duck. Jack says they can't save the whole world. He gets in the car, but Micki runs back inside, followed by Johnny.

Van Hellier and Baker look around inside for Kurt and Michele. Kurt kills Baker, and Van Hellier is shocked to see that Michele turned Kurt into a vampire. She says Van Hellier lied to her, having told her Kurt was dead. Kurt flies up to fight his foe, and Van Hellier gets tangled in a chain and falls, hanging upside down. Kurt jumps down. Van Hellier frees himself and the two struggle on.

Micki and Johnny hear the commotion and go to investigate.

Just as Van Hellier is about to kill Kurt, Michele begs him not to, for her. He drops his weapon, but Kurt grabs a piece of wood and stabs him. Michele watches Van Hellier die. Kurt then goes to attack Micki when she arrives, but Jack shows up and tosses holy water on him. Kurt falls, then bursts into flames as Michele screams. She hisses and bares her fangs. Jack tells Micki and Johnny to go and raises the holy water, but Michele stops. Jack leaves with the others as Michele screams.

At the store, Johnny and Micki wait on Jack, who hasn't come home yet. Johnny is surprised Jack let Michele survive. Johnny says he'll wait for Jack to come back, but they can't understand why he let Michele live.

Cut back to Jack as he was at the beginning, on the bench by the water, contemplating all that happened. He wishes he could have the wisdom the vampires have, almost envious of how much they learn over centuries of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts:

First up, the night scenes are sometimes so dark here, it is hard to see what is actually happening. I know it might be a combo of the time and not great resolution, but sheesh.

The set up here was odd, too, with Jack so melancholy by the water. I get it, once we see the frustration he's feeling about all the death that surrounds him, but at first it made me think Kurt was an old friend of his, as well. And in the flashback to 1969, I was unsure if the man was just a younger version of Jack. Wasn't made very clear who was who.

Glad they showed that Jack isn't always the rock that isn't bothered by the curse and all the deaths. It would get to anyone, so it's glad to see this side, even if it is brief.

Also liked Micki being understanding up until Jack wanted to just take the cross and go. She ran back in their with no weapons and at least two vampires waiting! Brave of her. Dumb, but brave.

Kind of funny how this vampire and his club have been there awhile and it is only now that Jack and crew are clued in to it. Also, if Jack was such good friends with the priest, why did the man never mention that Cross to him? Or Jack even just notice it when visiting? Nitpick, I know.

Wonder what became of vampire Michele? Guess we will never know.

Next week: Femme Fatale

#episode recap #season three #cross of fire #cross #crucifix #vampire #vampires #jack marshak #chris wiggins #micki foster #robey #louise robey #johnny ventura #steven monarque

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sisterspooky1013 · 3 years

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Damsels, Chapter Fourteen; Epilogue

By SisterSpooky1013 / Rated E

Read previous chapters here / Tagging @today-in-fic

ONE MONTH LATER

The freshly sharpened knife cuts through a cucumber as though it were made of air, and she quarters the slices before piling them on top of a nearly-finished salad. Mulder’s kitchen has seen more action in the last month than it had in the previous ten years he’s lived here, now regularly graced by the two of them preparing meals together. It feels blissfully domestic and boring, living this way, though the mundane days are still punctuated by a flesh-eating fast food employee or a genie that lives in a rug now and then. The nights, though, are never boring anymore. Even if it’s just Mulder wrapped around her like a tortoise shell and all they do is sleep, it’s the most exciting time of her life. It’s rare that they only sleep.

Mulder is in the living room messing with the stereo, and she hears a familiar tune drifting in; Red Light Special. Her body responds immediately, swaying in a way that was second-nature to her for a short time. Realizing how out of place it is, she stops, turning to see him standing in the doorframe, smiling at her.

“What is this, Mulder? Doesn’t sound like your style of music.” She’s cautiously curious.

He walks toward her, slipping his hands onto her hips as hers find his shoulders. They sway gently together.

“I was just thinking, Scully, you haven’t really told me about how you learned all those moves.”

He’s smiling a little bit sheepishly, asking her for something he’s not sure she’s willing to give. She starts to slowly walk him backwards, out of the kitchen and towards the dining room.

Scully might tell him. She might relay a watered down version of how she went from straight-laced FBI agent to stripper in three weeks, skipping all the tawdry parts.

But what would Desi do?

They reach the table and she pulls out a chair, directing him to sit. Stepping close, she presses her thigh between his legs and pulls his head close against her breasts, looking down at his upturned face as his eyes grow wide with excitement.

“Why don’t I show you instead,” she says, and his grin sets off a flutter in her belly. “There’s just one thing, Mulder, before we start.”

A flash of concern rolls across his features. “What?” he asks.

“There are rules,” she replies, already twitching and rolling her pelvis against him.

“Right, no touching,” he says, licking his lips.

She shakes her head. “Different club, different rules.”

“Okay. What are the rules at your club?” She can see that he’s already growing hard beneath his slacks.

“You have to touch me,” she says breathily.

He smiles devilishly, bringing his hands up to cup her ass.

“That is a rule I can certainly adhere to.”

Ventura County, CA

The salty spray of the surf tickles her nose from her perch on a small wooden bench, coffee in hand and a paperback open in her lap. She closes her eyes and turns her face up towards the sun, breathing the warm, orchard-scented air. It’s peaceful here, though the gulls are screaming and the shouts from a beach volleyball game echo in her ears. Peace doesn’t always come from quiet; sometimes it comes from knowing that you have a safe place to sleep and enough money to buy breakfast. Peace of heart and mind, if not of environment.

“Is this seat taken?” coos a soft voice, and she opens her eyes to see a woman with long chocolate colored hair and thick hips, her bright green eyes standing out against her deeply bronzed skin.

“Oh, um, yes, I mean no. You can sit,” she stammers, groaning internally at her own awkwardness. She’s usually very comfortable talking to pretty women; this one just caught her off guard.

The woman sits, her ample backside brushing close so that their legs are touching, but just barely.

“Do you live around here?” the woman asks, “I’ve seen you a couple times now, I think.”

She nods. “Yes, for just about a month,” she answers, “I moved from the East Coast.”

The woman smiles broadly, revealing long slashed dimples on her cheeks. She’s cute. Really cute. “Ah, a transplant. We love those here.” The woman tips her own round face up towards the sun. “Nothing like a little California sunshine to cure what ails you.”

There’s a silence, but it’s not awkward. The woman turns to look at her again. “Would you like to grab dinner sometime, or drinks, maybe?” the woman asks, and the smirk on her lips makes clear that this is not just a friendly invitation; it’s a date.

She nods, smiling back. “I’d like that,” she says, her voice catching in her throat a little.

“How about now?” the woman asks with a small shrug. Her forwardness is incredibly attractive.

“Now is good,” she says, trying to mask her excitement.

“Let’s go then,” the woman says as she stands. “Oh, I didn’t even ask your name,” she adds with a laugh.

“It’s Amanda,” she replies, still getting used to the feel of that name on her tongue.

The woman extends her hand. “Nice to meet you Amanda, my name’s Desiree.”

Amanda smiles broadly. “I knew someone named Desiree once.”

“Yeah?” Desiree asks, “hopefully someone you liked?”

Amanda nods. “She saved my life, actually.”

“Well,” Desiree replies, “those are some pretty big shoes to fill, but I’ll do my best.”

They walk down the beach towards the boardwalk, the setting sun painting the sky pink.

END

#the x files #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #gillovny #msr #sculder #x files #x files fanfic #case file #case fic

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dongiovannaswife · 4 years

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Giorno’s Passione: elite subdivisions [unfinished archives / confidential information.]

Tagging @softlimefluff @alittlewhitetulip since they have asked about some of the members appearing along the takeover and fics!

TW for mentions: medical stuff, religion stuff (catholic college specifically), explosions, masonry, mental control.

(references are highlighted with ♦)

Collaborator, ally.

Boccelli Enzo. Born stand user. His stand, Type O Negative, will show up representing every medical speciality. While he studied most of his life to become a doctor, he has had knowledge every since he was a kid. Type O Negative will perform and look over procedures, helping the patient recover faster with a high risk to sleep for entire days before they wake up completely healed.

♦ Type O Negative.

Unità speciale.

Leader: Vivianne Alma.

Members: Vivienne Alma, Marco Russo, Agosto “Westwood” Carvelli, [not available] [not available]

Vivienne Alma. Born stand user. Every object, person or animal will be transported to the preferred user’s location once Chromatica has touched them Can’t teletransport to other countries or continents.

♦ Lady Gaga - CHROMATICA (2020). Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer.

Marco Russo. Artificial stand user — former soldier. Painkiller will make everything explode once he thinks about it.

♦ Painkiller by Judas Priest. The Psychopath, Borderlands.

Westwood Carvelli. Artificial stand user. It is rumored that, when the arrow hit him, instead of awakening a stand, the soul of his beloved father came to him as his stand, guarding him as a shadow that crawls through the floor following him. Hysteria will protect him and anyone whom he allows to stand on his shadow, which is, consequently, his stand.

♦ Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer. Hysteria, Muse. Appearance: Kato from The Green Hornet (2011).

Squadra di Esecuzione.

Leader: Vittorio Ventura.

Members: Vittorio Ventura, Pietro Ventura [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available] [not available]

Vittorio Ventura. Born stand user. His stand, Square Hammer, will manipulate to extract information from the victim with a single glance. It is rumored that it has the form of a dark Pope given Vittorio’s childhood, which he spent at a catholic conservatory. During the nights, he would hear the teachers conspire against the government and it awakened his need to know more. Rumored Mazon.

♦ Square Hammer by Ghost. Ghost’s ideology. Papa Emeritus III.

Pietro Ventura. Artificial stand user. Vittorio Ventura’s husband. His stand, Monolith, will communicate with every living being and modify messages if needed.

♦ Monolith by Crossfaith.

#giorno giovanna #uhhh no one really asked for this but it was a project that had me super excited #original character ??

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innately-pretentious · 4 years

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Hi! Love your blog! I was wondering if I could get a male ship for Dead Poets Society and Lord of the Rings? I’m very patient and caring. Very quiet, especially in large groups, so I prefer the company of only a few people. I love to read, my favorite genre is fantasy. I love music and I like to dance, but only in the privacy of my own kitchen. Very interested in photography, specifically nature photography. I can be distant sometimes and it can be hard for me to open up. Thank you!

I ship you with Charlie!

The two of you are literally the definition of opposites attract. For weeks he would shamelessly flirt with you at any given chance, often catching you off guard! Eventually this leads to him being his usual dramatic self, and asking you out whilst simultaneously reading his most recent piece of writing. You can hardly deny him after his blatant display of confidence, so you agree to go on a date with him.

With Charlie being as dramatic as he is, you definitely keep him in check. Bringing him back down to earth when he gets too overexcited or cocky, he needs someone to restrain him sometimes! He always asks you to join him and the rest of the poets at the meetings, the rest of the gang have no problem with you being there. In fact they are quite relieved that they don’t have to keep an eye on him all the time! Whenever he reads out a poem about you, you can’t help but smile and blush. But if any of the boys make fun of the two of you, he is the first one to jump to your defence.

Reading together is a must, even if he gets distracted. He actually prefers it when you both finish the same book and the both of you can discuss it with each other. Literally, the two of you could stay up until the early hours of the morning discussing your favourite authors and brainstorming what the two of you are going to read next. He also loves that you are passionate about your photography and will join you on walks around nature. He will also annoy you to take pictures of him as well...

The song I associate with you guys would be ‘Gum, Toe and Sole’ by Gus Dapperton!

I ship you with Sam!

Ok, the two of you would be so adorable together! He had always noticed you around the Shire while he was working in various people’s gardens, always stopping to watch you walk by him, unaware that you knew. However, one day you decided to wave back, to see how he would react! He was taken aback, and of course he used this as an excuse to take you out sometime. Which you happily agreed to.

His friends fully approve of the two of you. They have to after Sam’s constant bragging about you! he loves showing you off to his friends, or pretty much anyone. Hanging out with them at the pub with them, laughing together. He loves the way you interact with his friends.

He understand that sometimes you need to take some time alone, therefore the two of you are quite content to just spend the night in each others company. There is nothing he loves more than just sitting and talking to you, watching your face change as you talk about the things you are passionate in. He never interrupts you until you’re finished. Dancing around the kitchen together, letting him spin you round. The two of you may not be the best dancers, but that doesn’t stop you from jumping around in your own home!

He loves that you are into photography, and with nature? That is literally his speciality! You love to watch his face light up as he shows you the most beautiful parts of the Shire, helping you find ideal places for your photography. And trust me he will always bring a picnic or snacks to eat along the way!

The song I associate with you guys would be ‘Ventura Highway’ by America and George Martin!

#ship #matchup #ship request #matchup request #dead poets society #charlie dalton #charlie dalton imagine #dead poets society ship #dead poets society matchup #charlie dalton x reader #lord of the rings #samwise gamgee #lord of the rings imagine

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thesmileshapersventura · 10 months

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Protect Your Smile, Sleep Better! Exploring the Importance of Night Guards

We hope this blog post finds you well-rested and ready to dive into a topic that might just change the way you sleep and protect your pearly whites. Today, we're shedding light on the often-overlooked hero of oral health – night guards.

The Night Guard Unveiled

Night guards, or dental guards, are protective devices worn during sleep to prevent the grinding and clenching of teeth, a condition known as bruxism. This seemingly harmless habit can wreak havoc on your oral health, causing issues like cracked teeth, jaw pain, headaches, and sleep disruptions.

A Closer Look at Bruxism

Bruxism often goes unnoticed, as it occurs during sleep. However, its effects are hard to ignore. Grinding and clenching can lead to enamel erosion, tooth sensitivity, and even contribute to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. So, what's the solution? Enter night guards!

The Smile Saver

We know life can get busy. From beach days to hiking trails, we're always on the move. But that doesn't mean we should neglect our oral health. Night guards offer a simple yet effective way to protect your smile while ensuring a peaceful night's sleep.

Benefits of Night Guards:

1. Preservation of Tooth Enamel:

Night guards act as a barrier, preventing the surfaces of your teeth from grinding against each other and wearing down enamel.

2. Pain Reduction:

If you wake up with jaw pain or headaches, bruxism might be the culprit. Night guards help alleviate these symptoms by reducing the pressure on your jaw joints.

3. Improved Sleep Quality

Say goodbye to interrupted sleep caused by the sounds of grinding teeth. Night guards create a buffer, providing a quieter night for you and your sleeping partner.

Finding the Perfect Fit

When it comes to night guards, one size does not fit all. Opt for a custom-fitted guard, crafted by your dentist. This ensures maximum comfort and effectiveness, tailored to your unique dental structure.

Choosing a Dentist

Ventura boasts a vibrant community, including skilled dental professionals. When selecting a dentist for your night guard, look for experience, expertise, and a patient-centric approach. Your oral health is worth investing in!

Protecting your smile and ensuring a restful night's sleep doesn't have to be a challenge. Night guards offer a practical solution to the common problem of bruxism. So, Ventura, let's take a proactive step towards a healthier, happier smile and a more peaceful night's sleep!

#nightguradsventura #venturanightguards #thesmileshapersdentistinventura

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kanye--westeros · 5 years

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Top Albums Of 2019

1. IGOR - Tyler, The Creator (Favorite Track: NEW MAGIC WAND)

2. III - BANKS (Favorite Track: Stroke)

3. To Myself - Baby Rose (Favorite Track: Sold Out)

4. Eve - Rapsody (Favorite Track: Aaliyah)

5. All Of My Heroes Are Cornballs - JPEGMAFIA (Favorite Track: Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot)

6. Leak 04-13: Bait Ones - Jai Paul (Favorite Track: Str8 Outta Mumbai)

7. Diaspora - GoldLink (Favorite Track: Rumble)

8. BUBBA - KAYTRANADA (Favorite Track: Go DJ)

9. YU - Rosie Lowe (Favorite Track: Little Bird)

10. MAGDALENE - FKA Twigs (Favorite Track: holy terrain)

11. Painted - Lucky Daye (Favorite Track: Real Games)

12. Chasing Summer - SiR (Favorite Track: Hair Down)

13. KIWANUKA - Michael Kiwanuka (Favorite Track: You Ain’t The Problem)

14. Assume Form - James Blake (Favorite Track: Mulholland)

15. Heavy Is The Head - Stormzy (Favorite Track: Handsome)

16. The Lost Boy - YBN Cordae (Favorite Track: RNP)

17. LEGACY! LEGACY! - Jamila Woods (Favorite Track: MUDDY)

18. Revenge Of The Dreamers III - Dreamville (Favorite Track: Sacrifices)

19. Everything’s For Sale - Boogie (Favorite Track: Skydive)

20. Free Nationals - Free Nationals (Favorite Track: Eternal Light)

Honorable Mentions:

Heard It In A Past Life - Maggie Rogers, Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve, Outer Peace - Toro Y Moi, Cosmic Wind - Lion Babe, Thank U, Next - Ariana Grande, Rap Or Go To The League - 2 Chainz, Titanic Rising - Weyes Blood, Hear Me Out - Reignwolf, CrasH Talk - ScHoolboy Q, When We All Go To Sleep, Where Do We Go - Billie Eilish, Green Balloon - Tank and the Bangas, Shea Butter Baby - Ari Lennox, Rogue - Yuna, ZUU - Denzel Curry, Flamagra - Flying Lotus, Bandana - Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Immunity - Clairo, Clarity - Kim Petras, Port Of Miami 2 - Rick Ross, Ventura - Anderson. Paak, Brandon Banks - Maxo Kream, Scenery - Emily King, i,i - Bon Iver, GINGER - Brockhampton, Red Hearse - Red Hearse, Case Study 01 - Daniel Caesar, Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey, Mirrorland - EARTHGANG, Is He Real? - IDK, Late Night Feelings - Mark Ronson, House Of Sugar - (Sandy) Alex G, Charli - Charli XCX, Jaime - Brittany Howard, KIRK - DaBaby, Violet Street - Local Natives, All Mirrors - Angel Olsen, uknowhatimsayin? - Danny Brown, Closer To Grey - Chromatics, Ugh, Those Feels Again - Snoh Aalegra, Pang - Caroline Polachek, The Sailor - Rich Brian, TURN OFF THE LIGHT - Kim Petras, Cheap Queen - King Princess, Pony - Rex Orange County, Reflection Of Self: The Head Trip - Stalley, Grey Area - Little Simz, Twenty Twenty - djo, Hot Pink - Doja Cat, UNDER8ED - Pardison Fontaine, Black Pumas - Black Pumas, I Was Depressed Until I Made This - Kembe X, Hyperspace - Beck, Fear Inoculum - Tool, Fine Line - Harry Styles, HAN - Berhana, Imagination & The Misfit Kid - Labrinth, Little Ghost - Moonchild

Notable Mixtapes/EPs:

Hi My Name Is Flume - Flume, Dying From Crying - James Fauntleroy, Days Before Forever - Muhteyoh, Dangerous - Shay Lia, Recorded In My Car EP - Tabby, He/Do You Love Her Now EP - Jai Paul, The Falling Man - DUCKWRTH, live fast. die never. - Lil Rocket, Angel’s Pulse - Blood Orange, TDT - Big K.R.I.T, Care Package - Drake, Floor Seats - A$AP Ferg, Choke - Poppy, This Summer EP - Alessia Cara, Dark Moon Flower - Shane Eagle, MOTIONS - Melii, Ylang Ylang EP - FKJ, Lamb Over Rice - Action Bronson, JACKBOYS - JACKBOYS

Great Songs On Decent or Bad Albums:

“A-OK (Everything’s Perfect)” by Terror Jr. “Crushed Up” by Future ”Maybe You’re The Reason” by The Japanese House “North Star” by Offset x Cee-Lo Green “Open It Up” by Higher Brothers ”Sandstorm” by Mereba x JID “Dreams” by Solange “So Bad” by Gesaffelstein x HAIM ”Girls & Boys” by Jesse “Drugs” by Yelawolf “Unnatural Born Killer” by Yelawolf “Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind” by Logic “Sunflower” by Vampire Weekend x Steve Lacy “Set” by Ciara “KRIT HERE” by Big K.R.I.T ”Lay Me Down” by Steve Lacy “Outta My Head” by Khalid x John Mayer “No Drug Like Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen “Frontier” by Holly Herndon “Left Hand” by Beast Coast “Sucker” by The Jonas Brothers “Baby Boy” by Kevin Abstract “Summertime In Paris” by Jaden x Willow “Time Machine” by Willow “Eternal” by Chance The Rapper x Smino “Mannequin Challenge” by Young Thug x Juice WRLD “Find Your Way Back” by Beyonce “Sufi Woman” by Jidenna “Show Me That You Love” by Common x Jill Scott “Camp America” by 93PUNX “Carried Away” by H.E.R. “Take What You Want” by Post Malone x Ozzy Osbourne x Travis Scott “Girls Need Love (Remix)” by Summer Walker x Drake “Reasons” by Anna Of The North x Charlie Skein “Follow God” by Kanye West “Guarding The Gates” by Lauryn Hill “Perfect Crime” by Tinashe “Jerry Sprunger” by Tory Lanez x T-Pain “The Box” by Roddy Ricch

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chiseler · 5 years

Text

ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE DRIVE-IN: The Testament of Al Adamson

It was 50 years ago last year that the cheap and peculiarly patchwork films of Al Adamson first began to assert themselves on drive-in and grindhouse screens across America. Initially recognized for his horror films (Blood of Dracula’s Castle, Horror of the Blood Monsters, Brain of Blood, and especially Dracula vs. Frankenstein), he went on to add biker, action, blaxploitation, sexploitation, and even family fare to his rickety roster before retiring from his director’s chair sometime in the 1980s and vanishing into private life. The rise of Adamson’s unpretentious output happened to coincide with the decline of the Hollywood studio system as well as such old guard avatars as American International Pictures, Britain’s Hammer Films and Amicus Productions, whose imprints always guaranteed a certain level of production value and class. Adamson’s work was something of a throwback to the gore films of Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!), but whereas Lewis’ work in horror was a taboo-breaking branching-out from his earlier nudie-cutie fare, Adamson’s pictures were endearing for their sentimental casting of veteran character actors well past their prime; technically, they didn’t bear comparing even to the old Monogram or PRC titles where Bela Lugosi was often found slumming during the 1940s, but the average drive-in patron could look at them and think, after his third or fourth beer of the night, “Damn, I could do better than this!” And sure enough, Adamson’s rough-and-ready example and his impressive earnings played a part in encouraging the powderkeg of DIY horror breakthroughs that went epidemic around the turn of the decade. Just to name the Americans, these feral young newcomers included George A. Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Bob Kelljan, David Durston, Andy Milligan, S.F. Brownrigg, even Oliver Stone, not to mention the many young and international filmmakers associated with Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.

1969’s Golden Anniversary honors were largely drawn to Quentin Tarantino’s behind-the-scenes movie fantasy Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, which was much praised for its magical extrication of the beautiful and talented actress Sharon Tate from her hideous murder on August 9th of that year. For some of us, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood links directly to thoughts of Al Adamson; in early 1969, he shot parts of his biker thriller Satan’s Sadists at the notorious Spahn Movie Ranch in Los Angeles’ Ventura County, where thwarted songwriter Charles Manson lived with his “family” members, inculcating in them a blood-lusting resentment for the established Hollywood order that would not invite him in. When Satan’s Sadists was first released in June 1969 (its trailer promising “A Rebellion of Human Garbage!” led by West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn), it quickly disappeared… but in the wake of the Tate/La Bianca murders just a few months later, its distributor Independent-International shipped it back out with a new, sleazier publicity campaign that actually emphasized its prophetic Manson Family associations. “See the Shocking Story Behind the Headlines… Wild Hippies on a Murder Spree!,” crowed the ads; “Actually Filmed Where the Tate Suspects Lived Their Wild Experiences!”And just in case this wasn’t enough, the film was frequently co-billed with Tate’s 1968 British film Eye of the Devil, now being sold with the tagline “Weird, mystic cult slaughters innocent victims!”

As irony would have it, almost thirty years after so grossly pandering to the public’s prurient interest in the murder, the director of Satan’s Sadists got the biggest headlines of his career when Al Adamson was named as the murder victim in a crime story nationally broken in August 1995, a couple of months after his mysterious disappearance.

This story is now the subject matter of a feature-length documentary by filmmaker David Gregory: Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, which premiered late last year at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal and at the UK Fright Fest.

The son of 1930s western star Denver Dixon (in truth, transplanted New Zealand native Victor Adamson), Al had been kicking around the exploitation film business his entire life. In 1960, working under the alias “Lyle Felice”, he took the lead role in a Western entitled Halfway To Hell, which he ended up co-directing with his father. The film was never released and the young Adamson wasn’t able to put another film together until 1965, when he wore all the various hats needed to make his first official feature Echo of Terror, a jewel heist programmer somehow given the breath of life on a mere $2,000 investment.

Low on thrills and boasting no stars, Echo of Terror followed in the footsteps of Halfway To Hell by never finding a distributor. It remained on the shelf until Adamson made the fateful acquaintance of Samuel M. Sherman, then working in the publicity department at Hemisphere Pictures, designing campaigns for the likes of Filipino imports like Eddie Romero’s war drama The Ravagers and Gerardo de Leon’s vampire opus The Blood Drinkers. Sherman had just finished a two-year stint as the editor of the Warren Publications magazine Screen Thrills Illustrated, devoted to the movie serials of the 1930s and ‘40s – so he was familiar with the name Denver Dixon and formed a fast friendship with his son. He screened Edge of Terror and, while agreeing it was unviable in its present shape, he was impressed by what Adamson had accomplished with so little money. They didn’t yet have the means to produce an entirely new picture, so they made a reel’s worth of changes to what they had, and that’s how Echo of Terror – with a modicum of new footage featuring some go-go dancers - became Psycho A Go Go.

Through Hemisphere, this jarring concoction was shipped out in support of The Ravagers in Rochester, New York at the end of 1965, and it remained in circulation in New England and Midwestern states through 1967, first playing with another Gerardo de Leon picture, Curse of the Vampires (retitled Blood Creatures) and later appearing at the bottom of triple – and even quadruple - bills with Hammer’s Dracula Prince of Darkness (1965) and Plague of the Zombies (1966).

Even as Psycho A Go Go was tempting sullen motorists to stick around for the free donuts and coffee being served to anyone who lasted till the fourth feature, Sherman and Adamson could see that the clock was ticking against the timeliness of its title. So yet another scheme was hatched to squeeze maximum earnings out of a minimal further investment. Sherman knew more about the film business than Adamson did, so it was likely he who suggested they write some additional mad scientist gobbledegook, hire John Carradine for a day or two, and ship out their brand new picture with a more exploitable title like Fiend With the Electronic Brain – pretty much exactly what producer Jerry Warren had done some years earlier with the reels of unmarketable Swedish and Chilean footage that he sold to unsuspecting patrons as Invasion of the Animal People (1959) and Curse of the Stone Hand (1965), starring John Carradine!

They followed through on the plan and did indeed secure a distribution deal (or at least an arrangement) with David L. Hewitt’s American General Pictures, who got Fiend With the Electronic Brain into a couple of drive-ins in Corpus Christie and Austin, Texas in late 1967 and early 1968 as a co-feature to Jack Hill’s as-yet-unrecognized classic Spider Baby. On the books, it gave them credit for having produced and released a new picture that year, which made their new partnership the beneficiary of a much-needed tax break and a foundation from which they were able to produce their first real joint effort. This was Blood of Dracula’s Castle (1969, also starring Carradine), made in partnership with Paragon International Pictures, as was its co-feature, Bud Townsend’s Nightmare In Wax starring Cameron Mitchell. Released through Crown International, the double bill premiered in May 1969 and Blood of Dracula’s Castle in particular was never out of theatrical circulation for the next two years.

You might think they would have moved on to more important things, but the Frankensteinian efforts to make a bigger, better Fiend With the Electronic Brain continued to occupy Sherman and Adamson. Sherman’s success with Blood-titled campaigns – ranging from 1970s Mad Doctor of Blood Island to 1971’s Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror – had convinced him that “Blood” was the most commercially vital word in horror terminology. His theory was subsequently bourne out by the success of his 1972 “Chiller Carnival of Blood” – a drive-in festival composed of old, decomposing Hemisphere titles (1959’s Terror Is A Man retitled Blood Creature, Mad Doctor of Blood Island retitled Blood Doctor, Theater of Death retitled Blood Fiend, and Brides of Blood retitled Blood Brides). Sherman’s “good luck noun” was prominently applied to their old warhorse the next time it surfaced, this time with new footage featuring Kent Taylor and Adamson’s wife Regina Carroll, who had become a fixture of his work since Satan’s Sadists. The rechristened Blood of Ghastly Horror actually headed drive-in triple bills upon its release in January 1973 – and some ticket buyers may have been understandably annoyed to discover that it was the same film that had been playing on television stations across the country as early as April 1972 under the title Man With the Synthetic Brain.

This is but one of numerous stories of patchwork reinventions and retitlings attending the filmography of Al Adamson, which will receive the fullest possible examination when Severin Films releases the mind-staggering tributary box set Al Adamson – The Masterpiece Collection, on April 21st. Compiling all 32 of Adamson’s surviving feature films and variants on 14 Blu-ray discs (all Region A, except for Discs 1, 12, and 14, which are region free), a 128-page book, as well as the David Gregory documentary, this Matterhorn of home video retrospectives will be limited to only 2,000 copies and supply is dwindling fast. The dwindling is faster still for two variants packed with additional incentives: you’ve already missed the “Bundle of Ghastly Horror” (limited to 200 copies and containing posters signed by Adamson stars John “Bud” Cardos and Zandor Vorkov), but the limited 300-copy “Bundle A Go Go” retains most of the contents - a T-shirt, dimestore vampire fangs, 7” soundtrack single of music from The Female Bunch, and Adamson patch and enamel pin - while substituting a signed postcard for the posters. Pick your poison at severin-films.com.

If you’re wondering, “Do I need this?,” only you can answer that question reliably. However, should you be open to further temptation, I can whole-heartedly recommend the documentary Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, which is available for purchase separately and now streaming on such outlets as Amazon Prime, Vudu, and Google Play.

by Tim Lucas

#Tim Lucas #The Chiseler #Al Adamson #Drive-in

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route22ny · 5 years

Photo

Exterior view, Martinique Hotel, circa 1989 as it was ending its 16 years as a notorious “welfare hotel” prior to its sale and (eventual) renovation. To my surprise my ancient New York Times password worked, and I was able to view two articles about this phase of the hotel’s history which are copied below. Image above is a reworking of a scan of my original photo.

***

Leaving a Welfare Hotel, Reluctantly

By Suzanne Daley, September 14, 1988

New York City's decision to empty a large and notorious welfare hotel has, paradoxically, brought as much fear as joy to the families who live there. No matter how bad the Martinique Hotel is, many are afraid to leave it.

To be sure, there are women like Vera Coley, who, after more than a year in the hotel, is looking forward to cooking a turkey and making banana pudding in her own home.

But there are others who are not eligible for an apartment. For many of them, the prospect of another unfamiliar shelter, even one less squalid than the Martinique, is frightening.

There are also women who have lived in the hotel for so long, advocates say, that, like prison inmates, they can barely imagine independent lives, with bills to pay and appointments to keep. ''Our immediate reaction to the city's decision was jubilation,'' said Robert M. Hayes, a prominent advocate for the homeless. ''But you go in there now and you see fear and trembling on the part of the mothers.

''If you go a little bit deeper, you realize that for them, hell has become a familiar cocoon. It's a subtle, more insidious harm that has been done than just living with rats and broken pipes.''

Last week, as the city began to empty the hotel - a battered 16-story building still bearing hints of a more elegant past - many aspects of life there went on as before. Mothers cooked on hot plates. Children chased one another in the dimly lighted hallways, the walls stained with urine and marred by graffiti.

But outside the building, on 32d Street near Broadway, where city-run vans taking families to look for apartments used to appear no more than once or twice a week, there was a traffic jam of sorts. Now the vans had shown up with a new urgency to help usher the tenants out.

Under the city's plan to stop using the privately owned hotel, families in the Martinique who have been homeless for more than a year are to be given priority for placement in vacant Housing Authority apartments and renovated city-owned apartments. In the past, such families, although eligible for apartments after a year, often did not get them because there were not enough to go around. For that reason, little pressure was put on families to board a van for an apartment-hunting trip if they chose not to.

But now, city officials said, families that do not take one of three apartments offered to them from a still-limited supply of units will be denied further hotel allowances, forcing them to move to large, city-run dormitories.

City officials said that about half of the families in the hotel, most of them headed by women, had lived there between one and two years. Seventeen had been there for three years. Another seven had lived there for more than four years. The cost of a room is about $1,600 a month, 50 percent of which is paid by the Federal government, 25 percent by the state and 25 percent by the city.

The city, facing the possibility of losing $70 million in Federal aid for homeless families, announced last month it would empty the Martinique as the first step in ending the use of welfare hotels by 1990. About 3,500 families live in welfare hotels in New York City.

'I'm Going to Kiss the Floor'

Mrs. Coley, a mother of five who has always wanted to get on a van, now expects to move into a Housing Authority apartment by the end of the year.

''When I get there, I'm going to kiss the floor,'' she said, sitting in the hotel's makeshift cafeteria, where free lunches are handed out. ''I swear I'll die before I come back to a place like this again.''

But others are reluctant to move. In most cases, these women say, the apartments that the city offers them are in distant neighborhoods and in poor condition. They say they have learned how to get by in the hotel and do not trust the city as a landlord.

''I got friends in some of those apartments,'' Janette Holland said, explaining why, after four years in the Martinique, she had never tried to get on a van. ''They're still living on hot plates, in terrible places. The city don't do right. Anything goes wrong they don't fix it.''

Acclimated to Squalor

But city officials and advocates for the homeless say that the reluctance of many women is more than a reaction to the apartments. They say that the women have become acclimated to life in a welfare hotel and used to receiving the special services provided there.

For instance, women in the hotel need only go downstairs to meet with city social workers, who will help make sure they get all the benefits they are entitled to. Twice a week, a medical van comes by offering free care for children. Charities arrange for Christmas presents and other holiday activities. And, day care is available.

''The longer people are in this situation, the harder it is to get them out,'' said William J. Grinker, the head of the city's Human Resources Administration. ''They get comfortable in a situation even though, to an outsider, where they are would seem terrible.''

Burnell Lopez and Yvonne McCullens, who were looking at apartments recently, both said they were not eager to take the city-owned apartments they were being shown. They described life in the Martinique as ''O.K.''

One Towel to a Person

Life there has little to do with what most people think of as hotel living. Most rooms have been converted into small, cramped units. There are no phones in the rooms and no cleaning services. New arrivals are issued sheets, towels - one to a person - and a mop and a bucket.

Usually, three or four people live in a room, in many cases sharing an adjoining bathroom with a family next door. The rooms are too small for a table, and meals are usually eaten on the edge of the bed.

Security guards, swinging billy clubs, patrol the building and cluster around bulletproof booths in the lobby. Residents must show identification cards to get in.

But Ms. Lopez and Ms. McCullens said they had learned how to get by.

'It Ain't So Bad'

''You mind your business and it ain't so bad,'' said Ms. McCullens, who has been homeless for five years. Ms. Lopez, who has been homeless for more than two years, agreed, though when questioned, both women talked of being scared in a hotel where robberies are frequent, drug deals are made, and a handful of killings have occurred.

Property has been stolen from both women's rooms, and Ms. Lopez said her children have been beaten up.

Still, neither woman has jumped at the apartments they have been shown. Ms. Lopez lingered recently in an apartment on West 140th Street in Harlem, unable to make up her mind whether to move there.

The windows offered a straight-on view into an abandoned building next door. There was no hot water; the floors were unfinished, and the appliances had not been installed.

Memories of 2-Family Houses

Even though she was assured that more work would be done on the apartment, Ms. Lopez kept shaking her head.

''I ain't never lived in a place like this,'' she said several times, noting she was raised in Brooklyn. ''I always had a place in a house, a two-family house.'' Finally, however, she accepted it. Those not eligible for apartments are to be sent to shelters offering private quarters and, in many cases, cooking equipment, which is not available at the Martinique.

For the most part, this will mean better living conditions, Mr. Grinker said. But few of the women believe that, and some who have moved from shelter to shelter say they would rather stay at the Martinique than move again.

After four months of homelessness and stays in six different shelters and hotels, Donna Luck sighed at the prospect of a new shelter.

''I'm stationed here,'' she said, ''and now I've got to leave again. What's it going to be like this time?''

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/14/nyregion/leaving-a-welfare-hotel-reluctantly.html

***

As a Hotel Is Emptied, The Poor Move On

By Josh Barbanel, December 27, 1988

As a gentle rain washed the dusty marquee of the Martinique Hotel in Herald Square the other day, Madeline Ventura, her five children and two cats scampered up the back of a yellow moving van for a ride to their new home in Brooklyn.

The Venturas are among scores of families who have been hurriedly moved out of the Martinique in the last few days as the Koch administration rushes to empty one of the largest and most troubled welfare hotels in the city by the end of the year.

The Venturas' meager possessions, accumulated during more than two years of homelessness, were sprawled around them in the back of the van.

Bags of Dirty Laundry

There were two dolls, still wrapped in plastic, and a blackened hot plate that served as the family's kitchen. Plastic bags bulged with dirty laundry. A plastic Christmas tree protruded from a box.

The night before, a city worker had knocked on a steel door spray-painted with the number 801, the entrance to a two-room suite at the Martinique, and told the Ventura family to get ready to move the next day.

''I didn't even have a chance to do the wash,'' Mrs. Ventura said.

Last summer, long after New York City's welfare hotels had become a national scandal, and after the city had been threatened with an imminent cutoff of Federal funds to pay the hotel bills, Mayor Koch pledged to empty the 46 hotels it used to house the homeless by July 1990.

The Martinique was chosen to be first, city officials said, because it was one of the biggest hotels, because it was the target of a barrage of complaints in the neighborhood and because it had become a symbol of the horrors of a system that paid exorbitant sums to warehouse families, many already troubled, in shabby, crowded hotels. To rent one room for a family of four costs $1,800 a month.

13 Families Remain

Only last March, 462 families - about 500 adults and 1,500 children - lived along the Martinique's long and noisy corridors.

When the moving was halted for the weekend, only 13 families remained, city officials said, along with a half-dozen long-term tenants and a few squatters.

About half of those who have left have moved to renovated apartments in city-owned buildings or projects.

The others - those who have been homeless for less than a year - have been sent to family shelters run by not-for-profit groups under contract to the city.

The speed with which the city is emptying the hotel, at 32d Street and Broadway, has raised questions about why such steps could not have been taken sooner and what will happen to the once-grand hotel after the last residents move.

Under a law intended to protect single-room occupancy hotels, the owners of the Martinique are barred from demolishing it or converting it. They have begun lobbying to win an exemption, and have warned that without relief they may lease it to a drug or prison program.

''It is for everyone's advantage to come up with a solution,'' said Howard J. Rubenstein, the public-relations executive who is representing the owners of the Martinique as well as a community group trying to shut welfare hotels in the area.

The Martinique, built at the turn of the century by William R. H. Martin in what was then one of the city's finest neighborhoods, has been used as a welfare hotel since 1973.

In its last days as a welfare hotel, moving vans lined the hotel entrance beneath the French Renaissance facade. The dimly lighted lobby, once alive with the sounds of children, has grown quiet.

Packing Up the Toys

The 18 public agencies, social service contractors and volunteer groups that provided food, medical care, counseling and other services in the hotel's old ballroom have begun to shut down and move out. As Mrs. Ventura walked down eight flights of stairs for the last time, the staff of a day-care center run by the Association to Benefit Children was packing up toys and child-size tables for storage.

''I'm happy this hotel is closing,'' said Lourdes Rivera, the director of the center. ''I wish they were all going to good homes,''

For the Venturas, the closing of the hotel has meant a bumpy ride in the back of the van to a spacious, freshly painted apartment in a housing project at 86 Carlton Avenue in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.

The family - including Mrs. Ventura's husband, Peter, who missed the movers because of an appointment at a Methadone clinic - will pay $161 a month to rent a four-bedroom apartment, equipped with a new refrigerator and stove, in a project named after Walt Whitman. The welfare system will pay the rent and give the family $590 in cash each month.

Flypaper and a Sour Smell

The Venturas lived in two squalid rooms for most of the last two and a half years. Before then they had been evicted from their apartment in Far Rockaway while Mrs. Ventura and Peter - her boyfriend at the time -were addicted to cocaine. Neighbors had complained.

Mrs. Ventura's journey toward homelessness began much earlier. She dropped out of high school when she was 16, married, gave birth to a son and divorced a year later.

She later settled down with another man, had four more children, including twin daughters, Angela and Carmen Sanchez, now 9 years old. That relationship faltered and Mrs. Ventura turned to drugs after the death of another child, who was born prematurely.

Suffering from depression, she turned to a psychiatrist for help, and received a string of prescriptions for mood-altering drugs, without much counseling to go with it, she said. From there she moved to other pills bought on the street, and to cocaine.

When the family was finally evicted two and a half years ago, they were placed in the Forbell Street Shelter in Brooklyn, a city-run shelter, and Mrs. Ventura got some help. A city case worker noted the needle marks on Mrs. Ventura's arm and referred her to a detoxification center at Kings County Hospital. The Venturas, both now enrolled in a Methadone program, were married in April.

At the Martinique, Mrs. Ventura was stunned by the widespread availability and use of drugs, particularly crack.

''I've seen kids as young as my son here selling,'' she said, pointing at her son, Rafael Sanchez, 11.

Keeping to Themselves

The family survived in the forbidding environment, she said, by staying out of the hallway and keeping mostly to themselves, Her sons became altar boys at St. John's Roman Catholic Church, a few blocks away.

During their stay in the hotel, the oldest son, James, was left back in the 7th grade. His mother said the stress of living in the Martinique may have been a factor. On moving day, as a photographer recorded the packing, James stayed out of the pictures.

New York City has put up families evicted from their homes or burned out in fires for decades. This system, developed for temporary emergencies, faltered in the early 1980's, when a shortage of low-income housing began turning homelessness into a permanent emergency.

Families, many of them headed by single parents from the least stable neighborhoods and ravaged by poverty and drugs, were crowded in tiny rooms along long corridors. In some hotels they shared communal bathrooms with pimps and prostitutes.

Last July, when Patricia Stanley moved with her 12 children from the Martinique to a city-owned building, she said she saw the impact of hotel life on her children.

Learning About Sinks and Tables

When they moved, her son took his plate and sat on the floor to eat, even though they now had a table. Her daughter, she said, ''put the dirty dishes in the bathtub because that was the way we washed the dishes in the hotel.''

Miss Stanley told her story at a Congressional hearing in Manhattan last week called by Representative Charles E. Schumer of Brooklyn. She identified herself as the character known as ''Kim,'' in ''Rachel and her Children,'' a book about life in the Martinique, by Jonathan Kozol.

Mr. Schumer, observed that the hotel system appeared to have been designed ''to allow everybody to avoid responsibility'' for it. The city filled entire hotels with welfare families, but maintained that it was only renting one room at a time and that it had little control over hotel owners.

3,600 Apartments Allocated

For years advocates for the homeless have pressed the city to get out of welfare hotels, and for years the city said that it lacked the resources to do more than make a dent in the problem - without increased Federal aid.

But after the threat of losing more than $70 million in emergency Federal aid to pay the hotel bills, the city reassessed the problem and decided to allocate 3,600 housing authority apartments to the homeless as they become vacant over a two-year period.

The administration has also developed plans in the last two years to renovate every vacant building shell owned by the city.

But advocates for the homeless remain skeptical over the plans. Even after the city gets out of hotels, they noted, there will still be hundreds of men, women and children in barracks-style shelters. The city does not plan to close the last shelter until 1991.

Series of Crises

The rush to close the Martinique has created large and small crises.

The New York Children's Health Project, a group that provided medical care to children out of a van parked in front of the Martinique, complained that the move was so rushed that for weeks it was unable to arrange follow-up care for hundreds of children.

For Noris and Luis Espinosa, who are still living in the Martinique, the problems were even more complicated. Last October, after their son, Samuel, 5, was injured in a bathroom fall, their four children were placed in foster care.

Because their children are in foster care and the welfare case closed, they are not being relocated to permanent housing. And they say that without permanent housing, they cannot get their children out of foster care.

The case is complicated because Mrs. Espinosa, a native of the Dominican Republic, is not eligible for welfare, and her husband, who is from Puerto Rico, was never listed on the welfare case record. Ann Ormsby, a spokesman for the Human Resources Administration, said the city was looking into the case.

For the Venturas, despite some confusion, the move out of the hotel was a promising start. While the cats cowered in the new living room, the children rushed through the empty rooms, picking out bedrooms, opening closets.

''There is a playground right outside the window,'' Angela exclaimed.

And James, who hid from the photographer in the Martinique, now nudged the photographer's elbow. ''It's O.K. to take my picture now,'' he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/27/nyregion/as-a-hotel-is-emptied-the-poor-move-on.html

#1980s #NYC #homelessness #bad old days #original photography

33 notes · View notes

catalinaroleplay · 4 years

Photo

Gender & Pronouns: Cis female, she/her

Date of Birth: May 14th, 1978 (42)

Place of Birth: Riverside, California

Neighborhood: Ventura

Length of Residency: Since December 2019

Occupation: Owner of Davis Gaming Company

Face Claim: Gabrielle Union

BIOGRAPHY

Malia is the oldest child of Matthew and Evangeline Davis. She would go on to have four other siblings after her. Her father was a sergeant in the Army and her mother was a stay at home mom. Malia had a simple and easy childhood. She was spoiled by her father and was very much a daddy’s girl. She was a tomboy as well wanting to play sports and get dirty which was opposite from her mother’s constant attempts to put her in dresses and make her the little doll she dreamed of when she was pregnant. It was always rough for Malia when her father would go on his tours of duty because she was left with her mother. Her and mother would have a rough relationship from then on.

Malia did well in school and sports. Her top sports were field hockey and soccer. She was extremely smart and had lots of fun taking things apart and putting them together again around her house. Her father saw that and would always make sure to put her in engineering clubs and science groups. Malia enjoyed the learning part of them, but the social part was difficult for her. She had only made one friend as she grew up and he would turn out to be the love of her life.

His name was Thomas Hamilton. He was new to her school in second grade and he followed her home with her little sisters as they walked. Malia thought he was a nuisance at first, but quickly learned that it was good to have a friend. He would climb trees with her and get just as dirty as she did. He played video games and loved sports just as much as she did. As they grew older, they grew closer and he became her best friend.

Thomas was there for Malia in the hardest part of her life. That was when her father died. He had a brain aneurysm and fell straight to the floor at work. Her family was completely devastated. He was the rock in their family. Their foundation was now gone and it left them all spiraling. Her mother went into a deep depression which brought out the schizophrenia that her father had always hid and helped her through. Malia had to take over as the parent to her sisters, but luckily still had Thomas to help her. They both raised her sisters as they raised themselves. Through it all, Malia was able to finish high school and college. She landed herself a great paid internship at a graphic design company which helped put her mother in a facility that could give her the care she needed and start the gaming company that Malia had dreamed of.

A year after graduating, Thomas proposed to Malia and they were married a few months later. They struggled together as Malia tried to build a business and Thomas went through the police academy, but it never drove them apart. If anything, the struggle brought them even more together. They were very deeply in love and making it all together. Malia even turned her little video game company into a multi-million dollar company. She had everything she dreamed of, but she knew something was still missing for Thomas. Thomas had wanted children for a very long time. He knew that Malia’s business was the most important thing to her and allowed it to be. Malia had always felt like she had no maternal instinct so she pushed it off more and more. Until she turned thirty-nine. She knew the odds weren’t good, but she couldn’t bear to watch Thomas’ sad face as more of his friends had kids and their families grew. She gave in to him and became pregnant with twins. A boy and a girl. Thomas was elated. He made sure she took the best care of herself and would always talk to the babies in her stomach all the while going through training to become a CIA agent. Nine months later, Malia, now forty, and Thomas, an official CIA agent, became the proud parents to Tahlia and Tahj Hamilton.They were the most perfect babies that both Thomas and Malia had ever seen. Thomas was a completely doting and dedicated father. He fed the babies through the night. He took them everywhere and was always home in time to take care of them so Malia could work and grow her company. They were functioning as a full blown family and they were happy. That’s when disaster struck again.

Thomas was killed while on a mission for the CIA. The night that the agents came to her house and told her that her husband was dead is one that she will never forget. It was like the wind was completely knocked out of her and she couldn’t function. Everything was a blur. The twins were still infants. They were only three months old. Her sisters came in and started to help her rebuild and take care of the babies. After Malia got back on her feet and the dust settled, she felt as though she needed to move. She couldn’t stay in a house that held so many memories of Thomas. She researched good places to go and found Catalina Island. It looked beautiful and she could be near the beach which was exactly what she wanted. Six months ago, she packed everything up and moved there hoping for a better life and a new chapter for her and the twins.

PERSONALITY

Positive: Determined | Loyal | Honest

Negative: Stubborn | Blunt | Guarded

Malia Davis is portrayed by Niki.

#town rp #city rp #oc rp #lsrpg #all #female #ventura #gabrielle union

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basilhearsanoise · 4 years

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cw discussion of abuse / drugs / violence . . . . .

When I make you laugh, it makes me more proud than I’ve ever been in my life. When I was standing in the backyard of a house in the valley, when I was standing at the top of our neighborhood mountain, when I hear you sing. Time becomes nothing. I am covered in glitter and saying “No, thank you” to coke from old men. I am being driven home by my mother after my abuser offered me up as a unicorn to her ex-boyfriend. I’m sitting at a table surrounded by people I barely know while a drunk girl who just got her heart broken loudly begs me to fuck her. I repeatedly refuse. Closing my car door, I am preparing to go to Downtown, Bakersfield, Westchester, Rosamond. I am playing video games at my best friend’s house until 2 in the morning for the very first time. I’m the years spent on our games of make believe. I’m reading the email that says she no longer wants to be friends.

When we make eye contact, I’m on my bed, holding the woman I planned to marry as she cries, and she tells me that the way I stroke her hair is comforting. It is the sincerest compliment I can remember her giving me. I’m in Ohio exposing myself to black mold so I can be yelled at about a lightbulb by a rich girl who asks me to lie to protect her feelings. There is a lake I circle many times, a tower of stone so old I insist on climbing it and feeling it with my hands. I am being called a “feminazi” by a girl in the cafeteria of community college. I am out to lunch with our mutual acquaintances and I tell one of the men he can’t have a relationship with me because I’m underage. He says, “We can have a relationship, I just can’t touch you.” The table moves on as if nothing has happened.

All of the sneaking, the near-death experiences, the time my partner’s car died on the freeway. When I had to cover them with my body because we were being attacked in a parking lot. When my ears ring — when I think about the girls in high school that didn’t want anyone to know we were dating. Every time I’ve picked someone up and carried them to bed. The men who’ve cornered me at parties, begging me to tell them who they are, what they want. Begging me to kiss them first, so they don’t have to take responsibility. The boys who taught me how to play with knives, who enjoyed fighting me almost as much as I enjoyed fighting them. I am standing in a church courtyard, a gymnasium, being taunted for being bisexual. “There must be one you like better,” the older boy says. He will go on to date two of my friends, treat them both horribly, and base our entire relationship off exploiting my compulsive need to save people. He will verbally assault me when I correct him on something and I will finally cut him out of my life. Years pass, and suddenly I receive a message saying he’s sorry. I still don’t know if it’s genuine, or just like all the other apologies he gave me before, just to manipulate me into letting my guard down. I am telling him, thanks, but I can’t trust that this apology is sincere.

I am there, again, every time. Every time I look at a new face, I relive all of the loss I’ve experienced. I miss every person that’s ever been in my heart. I bring every moment I’ve ever felt into the present. I am every version of myself, I am every love I’ve ever loved. Each betrayal aches anew. I remind myself how many of my relationships have been simple exploitation. I experience all over again how terribly I’ve allowed myself to be treated. I remind myself how desperate I am for affection. How truly lonely I am and always have been. How far I will go, how much I will sacrifice, when I love someone.

I close my car door, I put on my headphones, I smile, I laugh. I stand quivering with the potential of losing you. The salt piles up inside my lungs and I wonder if I am cursed. I close my car door, I turn up the music, I raise my drink, I begin to dance. I sway closer to you. I want to know more than anything what it was that made you laugh, that made you look at me. I want you to tell me what it was about this song that made you dance. I ask you to ramble about your current obsession. I implore you to hold eye contact. I beg you to let me catch you when you trip. I confess that I really need to get some sense of adventure back, but I’m not sure how to do that without hurting myself, without feeding into the negative cycle. It’s the middle of the night and I’m standing on the roof of an industrial building with a bunch of kids I just met, one of whom becomes a boy I date. All he does is lie to me and give me things. A few years later after we’re no longer speaking, I find out he stabbed another kid over drugs. It’s the middle of the night and hiding in the bed of a man who knew me when I was eight years old. He slips out to make sure his father hasn’t woken up.

Closing my car door, I am driving to Ventura, San Bernardino, Tustin. I am in an underground mall rented out for a rave by a group of middle aged men who’ve been throwing less than legal events since I was born and trying to get in my pants since we met. I end up in a random conversation with a kandi kid. I talk with him about how I’m disappointed in the selfish behavior I’ve seen people exhibit in a community that advertises love and acceptance. He smiles bigger than I’ve seen anyone smile in a long time, takes my hand, and slips a bracelet from his arm onto mine. It reads, “Hope.” I never see him again, but I still have the bracelet.

#me #writing #writers on tumblr

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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https://laist.com/2019/09/03/conception_boat_fire_santa_cruz_island.php

As of Wednesday morning, the remains of 33 victims who were aboard the #Conception have been recovered. A search is underway for the remaining body, according to @USCG officials.

Conception Boat Fire: Here's The Latest On The Tragedy Off Santa Cruz Island

BY LAIST Staff | Published September 3, 2019 3:44 PM | LAIST | Posted September 4, 2019 7:04 PM ET |

Recovery efforts are continuing near Santa Cruz Island after a dive boat named Conception caught fire and sank early Monday with 34 people aboard.

As of Wednesday morning, the remains of 33 victims have been recovered and a search is underway for the remaining body, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.

The intense fire aboard the ship spread rapidly and authorities believe 33 passengers and one crew member were trapped in their sleeping quarters on the lower deck. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Tuesday it appeared a stairwell and escape hatch were both blocked by fire.

Here's what else we know so far.

FROM SEARCH TO RECOVERY

At 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, after nearly 24 hours on the scene, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search for survivors, USCG Captain Monica Rochester said. Authorities are now working on a plan to safely salvage the vessel and recover the 14 remaining victims.

Four to six additional bodies were located in the wreckage Monday night, but the sunken ship is currently inverted upside down on the sea floor, creating a hazardous situation for divers. Authorities will attempt to stabilize the boat in an effort to search the wreckage for the additional victims and recover their bodies, according to Sheriff Brown.

"We want to make sure that this process is done safely and methodically," he said.

Brown also said the five surviving crew members gave written statements Monday and would be interviewed Tuesday.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS

The sheriff's department has a list of passengers from the Conception and have been working to notify the victims' families. Sheriff Brown said four families have yet to be reached Tuesday. The majority of the passengers appear to be from the Bay Area, he added.

Brown said many, if not all of the victims, were badly burned in the fire, meaning the remains will have to be identified through DNA testing. Authorities are in the process of collecting DNA samples from family members and will create profiles based on those samples.

A special team from the U.S. Department of Justice is assisting local officials with a rapid DNA analysis tool to speed up the identification process, Brown said, but it's unclear how long that process will take.

The Santa Barbara County Coroner is handling the remains with assistance from the Los Angeles County coroner's office. No autopsies have been performed as of Tuesday morning, officials said.

A family assistance center was established at Earl Warren Showgrounds at 3400 Calle Real in Santa Barbara to provide family and friends of victims information, support, mental health counseling, and other resources.

A pair of vigils are scheduled Thursday in honor of the victims: one at 6 p.m. at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and another at 7 p.m. at the Deep Blue Scuba Center on the Belmont Pier in Long Beach.

EARLY MORNING FIRE

Conception's 33 passengers and 6 crew members were on a three-day excursion in the Channel Islands. Early Monday morning, the vessel was anchored off Platts Harbor on the north side of Santa Cruz Island, a popular Southern California dive site located about 24 miles off the Santa Barbara coast.

A mayday call sent at about 3:15 a.m. Monday reported a raging fire on the vessel. Five crew members, including the captain, were awake and on the bridge at the time of the incident, then jumped overboard, authorities said. The passengers were below deck asleep when the blaze broke out.

The five crew members were rescued by a good Samaritan boat anchored nearby. A sixth crew member did not make it off the ship, authorities said.

"This is probably the worst-case scenario you could possibly have," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters Monday, noting the combination of a fire breaking out on a boat in a remote location in the middle of the night.

Two boats from the Ventura County Fire Department were the first on scene and found the wooden vessel completely engulfed in flames. U.S. Coast Guard boats also responded and worked to douse the fire.

But at about 7:20 a.m., the boat sank in about 60 feet of water. Four bodies were recovered shortly after the vessel went down, described only as two adult men and two adult women.

Search and rescue teams responded with helicopters, boats and divers and located another four bodies on the ocean floor Monday. Concerns over the tide and the stability of the sunken boat hampered recovery efforts that afternoon, but as crews worked into the night, 16 more bodies were recovered and brought to shore.

Authorities are investigating where the fire started and what caused it, but could not confirm media reports of an explosion on the ship.

"There's no indication at this point in the investigation that there was an explosion that preceded this fire or this event," Brown told reporters Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to investigate the incident.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the fire and plans to release a preliminary report within 10 days, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference, though a final report usually takes between 12 and 24 months. The Coast Guard will also be conducting their own investigation.

Vehicles of the size of the Conception aren't required to have a black box on board, according to NTSB Investigator-In-Charge Adam Tucker, and they have not received any indication that the ship had installed one voluntarily.

The NTSB plans to be on scene for 7 to 10 days collecting evidence, but will not be determining the cause of the fire while on scene, Homendy said. They do plan to provide factual information ahead of their report as it becomes available. She also noted that they have in the past provided urgent safety recommendations in the middle of an investigation and that they won't wait for the investigation to end in order to do that.

The NTSB is asking the public for their assistance, seeking photos, videos, and any other information that people believe will help the safety investigation. Anyone with that information can email them at [email protected].

The NTSB has started to develop a list of people they'd like to interview. Homendy said they would like to speak with surviving crew members, the companies that were involved, first responders, the Coast Guard, and others. They plan to examine the vessel itself, the crew, and the conditions they were operating in. That includes if crew members had undergone firefighter training and what emergency supplies were on board, such as life vests, fire extinguishers, and life boats.

Homendy said she was 100 percent confident that investigators will determine the cause of the fire, why it occurred, how it occurred, and what it will take to prevent it from happening again.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE CONCEPTION

The Conception was owned and operated by Truth Aquatics, a Santa Barbara-based charter company that provided a variety of ocean excursions, including whale watching, lobster diving and fishing.

The 79-foot ship was built in Long Beach and first launched in 1981, according to Truth Aquatics website. The company operates two other boats, Truth and Vision.

The vessel has three decks, authorities explained Tuesday: the lower deck is the passenger sleeping quarters, the middle deck contains the galley, or kitchen, and the top deck houses the crew quarters and the ship's bridge.

The Conception was on a three-day Labor Day weekend trip to allow divers a "unique opportunity to explore the pinnacles of San Miguel Island," according to an online trip listing. It was scheduled to have left Santa Barbara at 4 a.m. Saturday and return Monday afternoon, Brown said.

The U.S. Coast Guard inspects boats annually and the Conception was "fully compliant" in its most recent inspection, according to Captain Rochester. The vessel was equipped with smoke detectors, along with fixed and portable firefighting systems, per federal regulations. The boat specifications also say it was equipped with rafts and life jackets for 110 passengers.

Several people, including friends of former crew members and frequent passengers on the Conception told LAist that the company had a strong safety record and a top-notch crew.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Ryan Fonseca, Alyssa Jeong Perry, Brianna Flores, Itxy Quintanilla, Lita Martinez, Megan Erwin, Megan Garvey, Melissa Leu, Sharon McNary, and Mike Roe contributed to this story.

UPDATES:

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 8:40 a.m.: This article was updated with information from the U.S. Coast Guard about the recovery efforts.

3:44 p.m. This article was updated with information from a National Transportation Safety Board press conference.

2:20 p.m. This article was updated with information about two vigils planned for Thursday.

11:37 a.m. This article was updated with additional details about the Conception.

11:15 a.m. This article was updated with information provided by authories during Tuesday morning's press conference.

This article was originally published at 8:35 a.m.

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miajvx-blog · 5 years

Photo

.*･｡ﾟ ━ ( cierra ramirez / cisfemale /she/her) i think i just saw MIA JADE VENTURA on the subway. the TWENTY-TWO year old COLLEGE STUDENT / BARISTA has been living in the village for TWO YEARS. mia’s friends know her to be alluring, candid & social , but she has a reputation in greenwich for being reticent , impetuous & prideful. i’ve heard that she is a SAGITTARIUS. when i see mia ,i can’t help but think of iced chai lattes, late night thunderstorms and forgettable late night encounters ! - ( chels / twenty / sher/her / est

hiii, my name is chelsea or chels is fine. im super late & i apologize. there’s a lot going on atmmmm but im here , finally . this is my baby mia jadeeee. i’ve had different variations of her and so far this one is my favorite & i hope you guys like her as well despite her being a bit difficult.

i’ll start with the basics i guessss ?¿?

# B A S I C S

name: mia jade ventura age: twenty two zodiac: sagittarius sun with a leo rising & a taurus moon. birth place: george town, cayman islands traits: ( + ) social, alluring, & candid / ( - ) reticent, prideful & impetuous

# B A C K G R O U N D (super brief lmao)

# mia is from george town, cayman islands. well thats where she was born for the most part. she lived there until about the age of five which is when she moved to the states and has been here ever since. she doesn’t really have a place where she grew up because she never really stayed in one spot. she spent about a year to two years at most in one city and then after that it was on to the next one so she doesn’t really have a sense of “home”. # mia has two siblings! she is the middle child so she has an older brother ( 2 years older ) & a younger sister ( 5 years younger). she doesn’t have the greatest relationship with them especially her younger sister because they’re a bit further in age. her brother often tries to reach out and also lives in the city which she just avoids like the plague. # she is a barista at a coffee shop & in college currently pursuing a degree in biochemistry . she transferred two years ago which is how she ended up in the village. she’s been debating about switching to a pre-med track and has also taken interest in various internships, looking into med schools and what not. she takes school very seriously because that is what separates her from her siblings and she doesn’t want to compared to them in way , shape or form. # in high school, mia was a bit of a .... bitch. she was the rebelleous kind. during this time, she was bouncing between miami and new orleans. she never really thought to make long time friends during those years because she knew she would be leaving at some point. it would be a lot easier to isolate herself from others rather than get too close. she graudated top of her class in high school in attempt to truly get out of her siblings shadows and to actually finally get the attention from her parents that she waned. this embarked acceptances to al her choices in universties, she wanted to go far which led to her spending the first two years of school at university of california san deigo and now she’s here.

# currently, she works as a barista full-time & does work-study at school when she’s not in class. she also tutors kids preparing for the sat and act. she prefers to keep herself busy so she can avoid having to face her problems which doesn’t always work out.

# P E R S O N A L I T Y

# mia is definitely a flight risk in every sense of it. she runs from about everything. it mostly stems from not being grounded in one place but she runs from her problems & emotions. she has the ability to just pick up and leave without any warning and can easily shut you out.

# mia never really faces her issues, that goes with feelings and people etc. she’s super guarded in that aspect especially when it comes to meeting new people, don’t get me wrong she’s super friendly but she’s extremely selectve. she social but she doesn’t overly share, she shares the necessity & leaves it at that. she definitely is extremelty honest, she will happilly point out certain things and doesn’t have much of a fiter but the one thing she won’t do is admit she’s wrong in any situation. she’s lets her pride get in the way .

#greenwichintros #{ ; a b o u t m e ; }#hiiii im sorry this is late #if you would like to plot slide on thru #srry im kinda cheesy

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nosedive17 · 5 years

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The Start of Something “Good”

The gang decided it was time to tear up Waterdeep in Dragon Heist

They all met as level-1s in the Yawning Portal for some drinks and shenanigans. Not long into the night, our resident bard used a Thunderclap spell to break up a fight between a half-orc regular and local thugs.

Great for them (rolling a successful DC (not shown))

Bad for me (first roll of the night) for the thug who tried to escape a face beating from Yagra, the half-orc.

However, all of the excitement garnered some unwanted attention...

As the thugs hastily make their escape, a troll emerged from Undermountain. A group of stirges have used the troll as a smorgasbord, but they were ready for some new blood (no pun intended). Our wolf born homebrew made short work of the attacking stirges, while the rest of the party witnessed Durnan, the tavern owner, make short work of the troll.

In the aftermath, the party was greeted by Volothamp Geddarm, a traveling writer and chronicler (self-imposed, of course). He made a deal with the party for ten dragons (gold pieces. Yes, I was disappointed as well) for the knowledge of whereabouts of his friend, Floon Blagmaar.

Imagine. The gang with this times ten..........

Apparently, the two had been partying and gambling in the Dock Ward two nights prior; a shady hole-in-the-wall called the Skeward Dragon. He left him early in the evening and hasn’t heard of him since, so he is fearing the worst. The party obliges, and the hunt for Floon is on.

The Dock Ward is a fisherman’s paradise. It rests directly on the Sword Coast, where trade and commerce is convinently possible. Unfortunately, our story takes place at the end of Uktar (November in the Gregorian calendar), so winter is in full force, leaving the streets covered in blankets of snow and a chill wind coming in from the ocean. It does not deter the gang, nor the vicious gang war that is taking over the streets of Waterdeep.

The gang happens upon the City Guard interrogating three thugs amist a dozen corpses. Our Paladin used his Order of the Gauntlet badge, which gave some information about the tensions between the Xanathar Guild and the Zhentarim. The party left and continued to the Dragon.

A stuffed beholder hanging in the window of the Old Xoblob Shop caught the eyes of the passing adventurers. Curious, they entered to find what could be described as the Spencer’s of Waterdeep; a useless knickknack shop with a single shopkeeper:

A deep gnome that ironically changed his name to match the store: Old Xoblob. The gang decided to take a look around, inspecting the beholder and discovering it was similar to a tracking device. While one party member purchased a voodoo doll for the dog familiar, a charm spell was attempted on Xoblob to ascertain the exact effect of the beholder, which failed.

So, they decided to do the only thing they knew how to do next:

They stole the beholder.

Trigger initiative. The fisherman of the group snagged Xoblob in his fishing net, allowing the party to escape. However, they should’ve ran further away than just the next alley over. Not long after, two members of the Xanathar Guild appeared and demanded the return of the beholder.

Trigger initiative part 2. The wolf born cut one bandit down to size, then the other was given the Ace Ventura treatment: an arrow to one knee, and a spear to the other.

Two drunken fishermen witnessed this, so they ran off to alert the guards, which cut the interrogation short. The only information they extracted was how the feud between the Zhentarim and Xanathar started: a keepsake of Xanathar went missing, presumably taken by the Zhentarim. Xanathar slaughtered their peace party, ending the impending truce between the two.

With that information, the thug was released, who ran right into the approaching guards. An easy escape, right?

Wrong. Remember, it’s winter. Winter brings snow. Snow leaves tracks. The party split like buckshot, which allowed everyone to effectively avoid, and as one PC did, intimidate the guards.

The gang met up at the Skeward Dragon. Think Moe’s from the Simpsons: a small, after-work bar where fishermen come to drink and stare blankly at the bar before them. With the parting of some gold, the bartender said that Floon was here two nights ago with Volo. After Volo had left, Floon met another friend: Raenar Neverember, the son of the former Open Lord of Waterdeep. He said the two continued to drink and cause trouble, which followed them after they left.

“They look to be members of the Zhentarim, which are known to frequent a warehouse on Candle Lane. Just look for the snake symbol on the door.”

So, what happens next? Will the gang find Floon and get paid? How bad will the repercussions be for intimidating the City Guard?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT!!!!

#gaming #dungeons and dragons #dnd #tabletop rpg #waterdeep #dragon heist #dnd5edition

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