#the annihilator headers

[the-casbah-way]

videos i think about every single day

[inafieldofdaisies]

WIP Wednesday | Tagging @thesingularityseries @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat @adelaidedrubman @strafethesesinners @strangefable @nightbloodbix @aceghosts @madparadoxum @g0dspeeed @trench-rot @josephseedismyfather @josephslittledeputy @euryalex @sstewyhosseini @detectivelokis @purplehairsecretlair @jinfromyarikawa @shegetsburned @clicheantagonist @locustandwildhoney @fourlittleseedlings @poisonedtruth @vampireninjabunnies-blog @cassietrn @wrathfulrook @jacobsneed @voidika @harmonyowl @henbased @schoute and anyone with something to share <3

Sharing another snippet from Chapter 10: Calahan and Leslie's first meeting. A rocky start of a bromance. Sprinkling some Mary May x Hartley breadcrumbs in there, too. <3

Hours after discovering Harker passed out on the side on the road among two other dead Resistance members, Calahan found himself parking his truck in front of the Spread Eagle. Arguably, he had never needed a drink more. Not only had he lost two recruits, no matter how difficult they had proven themselves to be, while the third was still recovering from the Bliss bullet he was hit with, but he had discovered his biggest fear to be true: Sabrina was in the hands of John Seed, just like Hudson. He couldn't come up with any other explanation for what Justin had seen on that road after Charlie's group had ambushed the bastard. The woman sparing a life, the child in the car, every detail he had received from the woozy teen further confirmed his theory about the identity of the woman John had with him. And Savannah. His gaze darkened at the thought of the kid that called him uncle anywhere near that goddamned bunker. "Gray wouldn't allow it. She would fight like hell.", he whispered to himself as he finally exited the Eden's Gate truck he had recommissioned from a capture party recently. "Rest in peace, NOT, fuckers.", he said out loud as he slammed the door shut and turned in the direction of the bar. A couple of minutes later he was sitting in his usual seat inside, nursing a glass of whatever liquor Mary May still had in stock after John Seed had his men confiscate her main stash few days back. Bastard is quickly climbing up my shit list. Calahan didn't care much about what she was serving him as long as it took the edge off, calmed him down after finally getting news on Sabrina and her sister. His eyes fell down on the handmade rainbow bracelet Savannah had gifted him few weeks back, something he hadn't taken off since she had tied it around his wrist with the biggest grin on her freckled face. It was another reminder of what needed protecting, why he fought as hard as he did even before the Reaping's start. Why he argued with Whitehorse so often, why he lashed out at the damned Peggies as a result, why he didn't give a single fuck about protocol when it came to the Project. As he ran his fingers over the white beads that spelled out his actual name, not "Rookie", he told himself this is what Joseph should never get his claws into: the innocents he could so easily poison with his deadly ideas. And yet John had done just that- gotten his hands on Savannah, too. Where are you, Tiny? You better be alright or he will be paying in blood.

"Something's on your mind, Rookie. I can tell.", Mary May stopped in front of him. He let out a dry laugh, "Just the usual bullshit, gorgeous. Don't worry." "You sure?", she eyed the way he was gripping the glass in his hand as he willed his anger to settle down, to retreat, "You seem out of sorts. I've seen that look before, you know, then seconds later you were punching a customer." "He was asking for it." "Didn't say he wasn't. But still… what's up?", Mary May raised an eyebrow and leaned against the bar, her hand coming to rest on top of his. Calahan found himself unable to process the unexpected touch after months of her ever only being annoyed with his flirting. He opened his mouth, wishing all his worry would pour out as easily as she poured his next drink, knowing she was good at listening to people. Her soft blue eyes assured him of it in that moment, hinting that maybe she actually cared for him. Was willing to hear him out. But the words never came, instead the bell above the door chimed, putting an end to the brief moment between them as she returned to her post to greet whoever had entered. Calahan didn't bother turning around, instead he released a tired sigh and took another sip. He reveled in the familiar burn of the alcohol as it slid down his throat, in the promise it would get him closer to feeling numb, even for a short while. "I will be damned.", Mary May exclaimed suddenly. Her tone made him look towards the bar's entrance sharply, his hand immediately reaching for his pistol on instinct in anticipation of trouble. It took him seconds to register the sight in front of him, seconds where he wondered if he was imagining things, if the liquor was hitting him harder than expected. Certainly that was the only explanation for seeing John Fuckface Seed standing in front of him. Before he could think twice, he practically flew from his chair, almost knocking it over as he charged at the bastard. His hand wrapped around his neck before he slammed him into the wall next to the door with all his might.

"Where is SHE?", Calahan screamed, the anger he was struggling to keep under wraps escaping at the unexpected appearance of the man that fucked with him daily. The man that paraded Hudson on his broadcast as a cautionary tale for what's to come. The man that he suspected had Sabrina and an innocent child as prisoners, too. Deep blue eyes stared at him in confusion, betraying his panic. Good. You should be afraid. "I'm-", the bastard tried to croak out, the force of Hartley's hold on his windpipe made it impossible for him to get anything else out. Calahan knew he had to loosen his grip, that he'd get no information from a deadman, but his hate for the Seeds had reached a boiling point with the missed opportunity to save Sabrina still fresh on his mind. "CALAHAN! Stop.", Mary May pulled at his shoulder, trying to bring him back from the edge, at the same time the man grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm behind his back swiftly. "I am not JOHN SEED.", came out as a frustrated shout as he restrained him, the words making Hartley blink in surprise, his face no doubt mirroring Mary May's. "Let go of my arm, bastard, if you don't want me to break yours.", he gritted out and whoever the man was finally released his arm. "Rookie. You okay?", Mary May whispered as she put a hand on his bicep, her gaze a mix of shock and concern. "He attacked me, m'am. And you're asking if he's okay?" M'am? Fuck me. Definitely not John Seed. Calahan turned around, scanning the man that stood in a defensive pose in the doorway from head to toe. The dark hair, beard, blue eyes… he could pass for John's fucking double. "I will be damned.", he parroted Mary May's words from earlier, "Who the fuck are you?" The stranger rubbed his throat before answering, "Detective Leslie Parish. I'm here looking for, well, you." Calahan couldn't help the shocked laugh that escaped him, "Isn't my day just getting better and better?", he returned to his seat and pointed to the chair next to him, "Sit."

Mary May sprung back into action, retreating behind the bar as she addressed what she considered now a potential customer, "Anything to drink, Detective?" "Whiskey. On the rocks, uh-", Leslie responded in a low tone as he sat down and rubbed his face, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name…" "Mary May." She wasted no time pouring him a drink which he downed immediately the second she put it down in front of him. "Thank you." "Now you've officially passed the test. Definitely not John Seed.", Calahan spoke up, making the detective next to him laugh. "Sorry for almost choking the life out of you.", he added and reached a hand to him, "Deputy Calahan Hartley, though most call me Rookie." The man accepted the handshake with a raised eyebrow, "You're new to the Sheriff's?" "No." "Should I call you Rookie, then?" Calahan paused, not many had bothered to ask him that question, not since Sabrina had shown up on her first day months ago. "Calahan or Cal would be nice." Leslie nodded, "Noted." "I gather you're aware you look like a certain someone?", Mary May interjected. "My last few days have been hell. Fuck, the moment I arrived in your beautiful County, I had a shotgun pointed at my face. Lost count how many times I had to explain to people I'm not John Seed, or say I'm not related to him or his brother in any way." "Have to admit, it's kind of a challenge not to punch you in the face, no offense.", Calahan eyed him with curiosity, "Why are you here?" "I planned on visiting someone when all hell broke loose. Haven't managed to find her yet." "Who?" "I thought if anyone would know where she is, it would be you, Deputy.", Leslie took a deep breath, his blue eyes filled with worry as he muttered, "I'm looking for Sabrina Donovan. She used to tell me stories about you anytime we talked over the phone, then people mentioned your name as the one in charge of things out here, and it all clicked. I knew who I had to track down." Well, fuck me, ain't that a plot twist.

"I don't know what to say, aside from that I'm looking for her as well. Have been for days now.", Calahan took out his zippo, flicking it open and closed in attempt to soothe his nerves. "Where is she, Calahan? What happened?" "You might need another drink before I tell you that story." Leslie's eyes narrowed while Mary May poured him a second glass. "What happened?", he repeated in a low tone. "On the first we got called in afterhours by the Sheriff himself, Sabrina included, weren't told much about why until a Federal Marshal walzed in announcing we'd be arresting Joseph Seed. He was so giddy, too giddy." "Sabrina didn't tell me anything about the cult, how serious things were…" "Sounds just like her, too independent for her own good.", Calahan gave him a sad smile, before continuing, "So, we flew over to his compound, entered the fucker's church while he's holding a service in the middle of the night. Like what the hell, right? Sheriff had decided Sabrina would have the honors to slap the cuffs on him. At the last second, she backed away, all frantic, saying something's wrong." "She's never afraid of arrests. I've known her for years. She has chased down all sorts of questionable characters… not once have I seen her flinch.", Leslie's face darkened, but he didn't say anything else, waiting for more. "My thoughts exactly, but this family, Detective… They're different.", Calahan lowered his voice, "The second we walked in John fucking Seed was eyeing her with interest. Got even worse when she hesitated to arrest his brother while the Marshal lost his shit at the delay. I jumped in, cuffing him. We managed to escort him out… but his people refused to let him go, crashed our chopper." "Sabrina… is she dead? Is this what you're trying to tell me?" Hartley shook his head, "Last time I saw her, she was alive. I insisted to get her out, to help with that fucking seatbelt. Joseph's men were all around, took away the others from the chopper. Sabrina demanded I run, promising she'd be right behind." He was close to losing his cool at the memory of that cursed early morning.

Mary May put an ashtray in front of him then, whispering, "I'm making an exception this one time." Calahan gave her a grateful smile, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag of it before adding, "We never reunited, I bumped into the fucking Marshal instead, bastard left me to drown after we tried to make a run for it and a freaking plane sent our truck flying off a bridge." "Fuck." "Yeah. A good samaritan saved me. Dutch. Helped me get back on my feet, offered we start a resistance seeing how the cult has everything on lock down and no help is coming." "Good call, with everything gone to shit." He nodded, "We had a mole, you know. Fucking Nancy. Loyal to the "Father", as Joseph likes to call himself. Didn't get us the reinforcement Whitehorse asked for." "And Sabrina?" "Have been looking for her ever since the goddamned Reaping started. It's what they call this shitshow. "Reaping". Think they're saving our souls, that the world is about to end…" Leslie looked lost in thought as he uttered out, "I saw John's broadcast with the other Deputy." Hartley lit another cigarette, his anger bubbling as he kept reminding himself the man in front of him wasn't John, despite how much he resembled him. "Yeah, he has Joey. Has been calling me daily too, railing me up with her capture, but hasn't said anything about Sabrina." "I went to her house. Cult trucks were parked at the front, no sign of her or her sister, it's why I've been trying to find you, Calahan." "I might have something, but I doubt you'd like it. I sure as hell didn't. Are you sure you're ready?" Leslie downed his drink, "Yes." Mary May winced, "Yeah, maybe avoid saying that word," she gestured to his head, "with that face." "Sorry.", he sent her a knowing smile.

"Earlier today, a trainwreck of a recruit showed up here with his buddies, claiming he has intel on John's next move, was planning to ambush him. I didn't believe it, so I turned down their invite." "Something tells me they were right?" "Sadly. Hour or so later, I get a call from the youngest guy, saying they have him, listing off their location before he went silent. I drove there and found quite the bloody scene." Leslie's hands formed fists on the bar. "Bastard killed two of the three guys, slashed their throats, the one that contacted me got shot with a Bliss bullet, but he's recovering." "Bliss bullet?" "Potent shit. It's a drug the cult makes, knocks you out in seconds, the things they use it for… pure hell, Detective." "How are things this bad?" "They've been preparing. Joseph claims to see the future, you know. Visions from God, he calls them. When we showed up at the church, he said he knew we'd come, that we'd try to take him away, but "God" won't let us." "Fuck, and Rina didn't think to tell me any of this. Assured me it's all fine.", Leslie muttered in frustration. "She does that a lot, doesn't she?" "Who shot Harker with a Bliss bullet?", it was Mary May that spoke up, her voice curious. Calahan took a deep breath, revealing what he had planned on keeping a secret. "Sabrina.", he said quietly, glad the bar was empty. "What the fuck, Rookie?" "She saved the bastard, gorgeous. He has her sister, from what Harker told me." Leslie slammed his hand on the bar, "Savannah. Where are they?", he got up from his chair, but Hartley caught his arm, stopping him from storming out. "Sit down, Les. As much as it pains me to say this, to be the voice of reason… we have to be rational about this."

"I should have come with her.", he said darkly, but followed Calahan's advice. "I've been down that road, too. Thoughts about what I should have done keep me up at night. But if I know one thing about Sabrina… she's resourceful, resilient." "She is.", he smiled. "I don't know for certain where she could be, it kills me to think he dragged Savannah into that bunker.", his fingers touched the bracelet again absently, "But we can't storm it, not with how much manpower and resources he has, not without a solid plan or people we can rely on, especially when we have no eyes inside to be sure she's even there." "Fuck. I- I know you're right, Deputy." "He hasn't mentioned her once, Leslie. Not once in the radio calls to me, she's not in the broadcast, it's like he doesn't want people to know he has her. Anytime I ask about her, he dodges my question." "He's planning something." Mary May looked between the two with a unreadable expression, "You don't think he turned her?" "Fuck no, Mary May. You know Sabrina. I just told you she saved Harker." "Fuck.", she pursed her lips, "Rookie, I know the games John plays, how he breaks people. And after Nancy… what if Sabrina's on his side, too? Maybe has been all along." Calahan shook his head sharply, "She's not turned. She's not a fucking Peggie. I know her." "Fine. For what is worth, you know I trust your judgment.", Mary May crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a stern look. "Peggies?", Leslie seemed lost in thought as he asked that. "Project at Eden's Gate, Peggies for short. It's what locals call Joseph's men." "Noted."

Hartley took a deep breath, putting out his cigarette before he turned to Leslie, "Look, I know there's not much to do right now about Sabrina, not without more information… but seeing how you're here, that you found me, maybe it's all for the best. I sure as hell can use another helping hand against the Project." Leslie's eyes darkened, a look of determination coming over his features, "Your battle is now my battle, too, Calahan." "Good.", Calahan raised his glass for a toast before asking, "You got a gun, Detective?" Leslie nodded, "My service weapon.", he opened his leather jacket, showing off a holstered pistol. "We're gonna get you more serious firepower ASAP.", Calahan pointed to the gun, "You had to use it yet?" "A few times. The "Peggies" are everywhere. Even tried to take over the motel I was staying at. I tried to help people along my way here as much as possible.", he said the nickname with uncertainty. "Learning fast. The only good Peggie is a dead one, Les, because chances are they'd try to take you back to John's bunker or dunk you in the river to cleanse you.", Calahan's voice became lighter, "Hell, now that I'm thinking of it, you have an advantage, if you ask me. They see your face and start to wonder if they're not about to shoot their precious leader, giving you an extra second to strike." Leslie chuckled humorlessly, "What a way to spend my vacation days. I will keep it in mind." "Is Abeline okay?", Mary May questioned, her tone laced with worry. "She was when I left, she's a fighter. Who do you think pulled that shotgun on me? Never have been more confused in my life. She went from wielding a gun to making me coffee." "Good old Abby.", Mary May laughed, "Thank you, Detective. For looking out for our people." Her words made Leslie look away, "Just doing my duty." "We got a shy one on our hands, gorgeous.", Calahan slapped him on the back as he got up and headed for the door, "Come now, there's some people you need to meet." Leslie finished his drink, muttering a quiet "thank you" on his way out. "Leslie." Mary May called out before they could exit, reaching under the bar and pulling out a Spread Eagle branded hat that she threw at him, "Might want to cover your face as much as possible. Spare yourself a "friendly" welcome or two."

[bugintheruins]

I love your new blog theme hello?? The header and everything is so pretty omg

augh tysm redd 😭😭😭

[sicksadgames]

Into the Blind free rules available now!

Into the Blind is a sci-fi roleplaying game for 3-5 people, inspired by media such as The Expanse, Gravity, Arrival and Annihilation, and TTRPGs like Trophy, Mothership and Alien: The Roleplaying Game.

You are Salvager, Courier, Bodyguard, First Responder, Investigator, Debt Collector; whatever you need to be to make ends meet. You will be eaten by the machine the Company owns and operates, or you’ll die trying to escape it. You are subject to the inexorable forces of the universe. You are a mass moving through a vast field of factors and probabilities. You are a ship alone at sea, and the stories of sailors are the strangest and saddest.

You are a Freelancer. If the debt doesn't get you, the darkness will.

So psyched to put this out and talk more about it in the future. The full version will be coming later, but the basic rules to the game will always be free - everything you need to create a crew of Freelancers and run a session, so grab your sci fi adventure pamphlets and get busy dying in space.

Itch is a little weird about mixing paid content and free content, but visit the itch page and scroll to the bottom, the Free Rules are under the Download Demo header:

[dungeonmalcontent]

I fixed alignment!

Link to the document in question if you don't care to hear the tale of it.

That's a really ambitious thing to declare. I even already went to the trouble of making this because I've been planning on announcing like this.

But, yeah.

Maybe I didn't fix it, per se. At worst, you can call this an alternative system to traditional alignment. And it all started because people were getting a little too complicated talking about the "nuance" of the standard alignment system and things like the MTG mana color system.

And my response was going to be "what ya'll are trying to get at is a spider graph." But that extended response post got annihilated because I didn't save it as a draft before switching tabs. So I started writing it up as its own post. And that lead to me making some demonstration graphs, and that lead to me going ahead and just writing up a whole essay. And then I adapted that essay into a variant rules module for 5e d&d.

So. Yeah. That's how I ended up making Re:Alignment. (get it, it's like a pun, because "re:" is the default header for a reply email and I'm responding to the trash state of alignment in 5e, but it's also read as "realignment" like repairing a misalignment.. it's clever, just trust me)

The document is 11 pages and can be read in its entirety as a preview on DMsGuild if you follow the link to it (easier to do on desktop). The doc outline how this approach to alignment changes how alignment works, the actual alignment system itself, and describes what I have essentially replaced good, evil, lawful, chaotic, and neutral with. I also included a print friendly PDF sheet to fit into a character sheet where you can track your spider graph alignment and other important alignment based RP information. Also also, there's a standalone graph jpg that you can slap onto a modified character sheet or other RP tool of your choice.

The doc is priced as "pay what you want", so if you want a downloaded copy or one you can print (though hopefully not the last page, because I make those all black) you can get it for free. If you want to throw a little money my way or if you really like the system, you can pay however much money you want. It was like 48 hours of work, so a decent amount of effort went into this.

If you're wondering "what did this moron replace the alignments with?" I'll answer that right now. I replaced alignment with this:

If you want to figure out what that means and how it works, read the doc. It's not that long and it describes it pretty thoroughly.

[finalfrontierpublishing]

Ravenous by @rageprufrock

This is my first time trying to upload a post on my phone, so here we go -

Statistics:

38448 words || 148 pages

Titling: Playfair Display

Chapter Headers: Alchemist Serif Font

Body text: Charter, 11 points

A quickie bind in between 2 chonky chaparral_crown binds! This fic was recommended to me on the Renegade Discord and after I read it, it immediately leapt to the top of my to-bind pile. Sometimes you just need a taster of short fic bind while you procrastinate on the next few steps. I have a great appreciation for rageprufrock fics (have been reading them since the Star Trek days of yore) and damn, is this Hannibal fic absolute gorgeousness.

I had initially planned a wound man design on the cover (went so far as to convert an image to a black and white PNG but the image quality wasn't great, and due to violence, it might have been a rather disturbing cover to post publicly so I changed my mind last minute and did something else instead. The spine was too small for titling - I had initially wanted to go for block letters a la Annihilation style on the front cover as the title is 8 letters, but it hadn't looked as good as the serif no caps font rotated 90 degrees - so serif font it was. Hannibal doesn't seem like a man who likes san serif fonts anyway, so perhaps this was the right choice.

I'm deeply fond of this particular bookcloth and its colour iterations but I need some colour variation on my shelf - next book will be green, I swear.

I kept the bind relatively simple and relatively classic. The endpapers are foiled, though the foiling doesn't show up well in photos. I used a chattering of starlings on the chapter headers, and can totally imagine Hannibal drawing little artistic birds for his own amusement while incarcerated in the psychiatric hospital. For the title page, I had wanted to do a face with a moth in the style of Silence of the Lambs, but couldn't find a nice enough stock photo, so I foiled a solitary moth with the help of toner reactive foil. The laminator didn't like the foil so much and left a line across the paper.

The HTV itself adhered largely like a dream other than the thin stringy bits that were a tad difficult to weed. The gold metallic is a standout and I didn't melt it this time. (hurray!)

[chronotsr]

No. 7 - S1, Tomb of Horrors (October 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): David C. Sutherland III (Cover), David Trampier Level range: 10-14 Theme: Meatgrinder Dungeoncrawl Major re-releases: So, so many. S1-4 Realms of Horror, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Tomb of Horrors (2005), Tomb of Horrors (2010), S1-4 Dungeons of Dread, Dungeon #213, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation (sort-of)

I said earlier that S1 is probably the only adventure more ported than G1, and I was right. You have so many options for S1. The original monochrome, the green cover, the compilation version, the silver anniversary version re-erlease-and-sequel, a 3.5e port, a 4e port, a DND Next port w/ 4e porting instructions, and then finally the 5e port in Tales from the Yawning Portal. The only people being left out here are the 2e people, and making 1e adventures go into 2e is as natural as breathing.

As the cover points out, this was originally run at Origins I, and there is so much community lore surrounding this module that I will spare you the rigamarole. If you know where I stand on the "meatgrinder vs fair challenge" argument, go read the Theme header again.

These illustrations are iconic. In basically every re-release they are kept as is, one of the few things that makes the 5e release stand out is not including the original 31 illustrations. And while the new art is OK, I, it can't hold a candle to the sheer charisma of the originals. And -- why no green devil head? That's the single most memorable thing from the scenario? We get one, actually, but it's on the map and I think it's an image from the archives because it looks an awful lot like an old cover of Dragon. If you do run this in 5e, you really owe it to your players to hunt down and use the original illustrations.

I am now morally obliged to tell you that, when I went through Tomb of Horrors (5e version, that's what I can find GMs for), I died to the Juggernaut. Which is actually extremely funny, because earlier when I was in Tomb of Annihilation I died the exact same way! So I guess Juggernauts are my personal arch nemesis. I personally didn't like my time there, but there is value in a module that everyone has played. I wouldn't've picked S1 for the task but I'm glad we have one at least. In general, this will be a a sparse entry in the series. The Tomb of Horrors is Tomb of Horrors. It is both extremely notable and also weirdly bland -- there's just not much to say about a lot of these trollish traps. They're highly specific and only really work in the moment, for very specific tables, at a very specific cultural moment. It's actually kind of boring to read in 2024? How much can one really say about a 20-colored mural with a variety of "it does nothing" effects?

Alright, enough stalling. The module starts with now-traditional Gary intro of "hey, your players are going to try and get extra information in [obvious way], defeat that." Today's edition is that Legend Lore is rendered useless by a combination of obscurity and….too much information? Ok… And then the also very Gary "If your players are dumb stupid idiots they will hate this module", which he also did in G1-3.

Eventually, your party finds this stupid looking thing, which is (I know this is repetitive) iconicly so-bad-its-good. And everything about this intro is trolling. So There are three routes into the tomb, two of which are trapped and fake. 2024 DND players would never think to try any of these things, but I do get the sense that in 1978 it would've occurred to most veteran players to try things like "poking the wall with sticks" and "extensive excavations". Anyone who tries to be clever and bypass shit by phasing into a parallel plane gets got by Demons, and I like the theory that Seth Skorkowsky aired a while ago that the Demons are the ones maintaining the Tomb so you should steal that.

You know what? Let's just go into keyed mode.

I do not respect this "only these express options work" mindset. It's very anti-ttrpg to have pre-programmed solutions Naturally, the second door cannot be removed by strength, only by one of 5 spells and thinking to wedge the door with iron in a specific day works. IDK bro I know the idea is Acererak is an asshole and has bewitched this complex to high hell but cmon, even the fake doors are borderline invulnerable?

There's a riddle-poem that hints at the solutions to the dungeon's puzzles. I actually really like this poem, and for all this module's sins I disagree with commenters who think the poem is too vague. At least when I was playing, it was just right.

That is the most off brand Ancient Egyptian tomb hallway I ever did see, and I do kind of love it. As for how confusing the wall-door-chest trap is, it's trollish but it makes sense to me. The chest is a red herring to distract you from the actual secret door, which is a literal door, and honestly that's a hint I consider fairly on the nose.

The misty arch sucks. The short version is that if you press the glowing stones in the right order, you progress, otherwise you get teleported to one of three random rooms. The solution is inscrutable to me (why that order? you could brute force it but that'd be suicide) and I really wish that the book spelled out what the puzzle logic was -- a lot of newer adventures will explain the operating logic in parentheticals next to the solution. If the answer is "you're supposed to brute force it", I have no respect for that mindset.

The devilhead is obviously iconic as hell and we love it. As many commenters have noted, the often-cited "our whole party climbed in and died" story is incompatible with a RAW or RAI interpretation -- your GM was just an asshole, your character died as soon as their head got annihilated and the party would see their body go limp suddenly. There is no way all 5 of you piled in without removing a body and discovering they're Very Dead.

The lever room also sucks. You could only guess the solution, and the act of testing will get you killed. And don't give me "well your hirelings" your hirelings are not going to test any traps after they see the 2rd guy get turned into meatpaste, and while ADND lacks the hard cap on people hireable that Basic had, you're still going to run out of guys who are willing to commit suicide in here in short order.

"Yet there are also depicted various religious symbols of goad alignment, and a faint aura of good can be magically detected. What a puzzle! Could the demi-lich actually have been of good alignment" This will fool no-one Gary. It's the Tomb of Horrors, not the Tomb of Hope. He clearly bewitched the chapel to appear as good, which literally anyone would think of. Heartbreaking: worst lich you know has access to revolutionary SRS magic.

It's at about this point where I realized how little there really is to comment on in this dungeon. It really is just a sequence of obtuse murder traps that are faintly hinted at. The things that are iconic about it (the devilhead, the acerack fakeout) are actually exceptions to the rule -- both of those are super clear traps that are designed to tease particularly foolish players. The majority of the dungeon is, tap random objects and get gassed by poison or dropped into spikes. In a lot of ways ToH feels like the bad timeline version of White Plume Mountain, which is trollish in a more memorable way? What I mean here is, when people complain that ToH is unfair they're burying the lede. A hard dungeon can be fun. An unfair dungeon can be fun! The issue is that Tomb of Horrors is boring. Every room being a puzzle tied to a deathtrap with almost no combat or negotiation is tedious.

Basically every tomb of horrors room has this setup:

You walk into a room with an illustration that looks cool, and there is some vague image, object, or feature in the room that is conspicuous

There is either no obvious exit (strongly implying a secret), or an extremely obvious exit that is currently impassable

You have to try fiddling with any object in the room that can be fiddled with, or grope around for an illusion

There is a roughly 25% chance there is a vague hint from 3 gameplay hours ago that will help you if you interpret it correctly, and a 75% chance that this is intended as attrition

You fuck around for a while, and maybe you work out the puzzle and maybe you don't. Almost certainly, someone takes 50% damage or has some vital asset removed or changed about them.

You eventually pass into the next room

Really the variety of traps in this dungeon is surprisingly narrow -- something like half of these traps are "activate these objects in a specific order or orientation". The other half are some variety of mist or gas or cloud or other fluid that kills you if you do not avoid or interact with it in the specific way. Occasionally when you're lucky, you simply turn a lever and get skewered -- what a treat!

The final encounter with Acereak, you will be unsurprised to learn, also sucks. If you touch his jeweled skull, he instantly steals your soul and ruins your body (no save, no appeal). If you guess one of the, again, explicit list of options to destroy the skull (which you have already established will instantly kill one ally per touch) which is of course very specific (essentially, holy attacks, the most powerful magical swords, and inexplicably gem-slinging), you can kill him in 50 hp. Weirdly, the soul gems that you get trapped into do offer some escape from death, but it's a terrible one -- IF you pass your save, IF they crush the gem, IF there is an eligible body for their soul to go into (yours was ruined), then you may come back to life in a very different form. Completing the Tomb gives you, of course, 100k exp. And in ADND that'ssss…. actually not very much. At level 10, 100k exp is not even a full level for most classes to get a level (thieves are the exception) and your actual treasure haul I think is going to be fairly meager -- I think the average character will get maybe one level of experience after distributing the loot. For going through one of the most dangerous dungeons ever.

I remain a bit of a ToH hater.

In blog news, we are looking at post 7.5 coming up, in which I will do another retrospective on the year's developments, and as a special treat we will be briefly discussing the first Dragon Magazine dungeon!

[global-broadcast-network]

[[LOST HEADER INFORMATION]] - BROADCAST unknown group(NULL) ______ _____, ______ ___, _________ _________ ________ _____ __: Are you fully sure that idiot is no longer broadcasting our voiddamn conversations? Not in here, at least? ____: Affirmative. __: Of the triple kind? ____: Not funny. ____: I have yet to track their precise identity and the location of their superstructure, but i am fully positive they should be no longer be leaking our broadcasts.  _K: Reassuring. __: How's HF, by the way? Dead yet? ____: Halved Forest recovered from the rot. Though, that is the least of our concerns at the moment. __: Damn. __: Hey, here's my proposal. I say we drop fucking up HF, switch over to whoever this guy is and nuke their can. ____: I was actually about to suggest this. HF can.. wait. We have more pressing matters. ____: We can return to them after we are fully sure the unknown individual's ability to do anything about us and our endeavors is completely crippled. BC: So. We blowing off their can's legs? N___: Inducing collapse is an option. ____: I will lead with malware. After their computational ability is annihilated, you two can pretty much go wild on the rest. __ER: No rot though. It will likely be too suspicious and, frankly, too much. M_: 'Right. __: You got anything yet? Approximate direction? Just wanna start moving my can over there in advance. ____: Best i have is "most likely north of my superstructure". Do keep in mind that might be incorrect. __: Thankcha NIER. ____: … ____: Now hang on a moment. <CONNECTION TERMINATED>

GOL: you're acting like I'm some crazed child

Shrike: yeah, one with access to some hefty weaponry ~

GOL: I'm only a few cycles younger than you!

[ikram1909]

so me and a few friends were discussing this but we think xavi has ruined gavi’s goal scoring? because at la masia we all saw what he can do but now it feels like it’s been beat out of him

people are mad that he didn’t shoot that one chance but i get it because if he did and missed xavi would’ve been on his ass for not passing, even though no one else made the run to help him, and it also feels like xavi is just making him recycle the same passes to gundo (and frenkie) instead of going forward himself which we know he can do

idk i’m not usually one of those people that think that xavi is stunting gavi’s development but when he continuously asks for goalscoring midfielders yet gavi seems to not be allowed to play like we know he can it’s starting to annoy me

I don't think Xavi ruined it tbh because it's still very much there. He's already scored 4 goals this season with club and country all different from each other. One a header, one a gorgeous voley, one an amazing strike and one where he did what she should to get the ball in the back of the net. So the goalscoring is still there and so is the variety in it. I think the problem these days has more to do with confidence rather than him no longer being capable of finishing. Like how he could've taken his chance after he absolutely annihilated Zubimendi (that would've been a goal for the ages 😭😭) but instead he passed it and the chance was wasted. Now that I think is on Xavi partly because he should encourage him to shoot more and they should work on it together in training. As for the last chance, I think he could've done better but the finish itself wasn't that easy and the goalkeeper closed the angle for him. I genuinely don't think any of our forwards would've scored that. I think he just needs to work on his confidence a bit rather than the finishing itself.

As for him being asked to pass it to Gundo yeah I noticed that too 💀 I don't know wtf Xavi is trying to do there but reducing his freedom like that is actually insulting to his talent. Gavi is probably our most balanced midfielder with him being equally capable in both defense and attack so using him for his defensive work rate only is a fucking shame. He's much more than that. I wish Xavi would just let him play like he did in the game against Madrid where he had the freedom to roam around both in defense and attack he has all the ability to do so. He's literally so good. Seeing him constantly winning the ball yesterday just to pass it to Gundo like he can't do more was so annoying to me. Let the boy do what he does best please 😭 he's only just come back to midfield and has been our most consistent player this season so far so I don't get what was happening yesterday. And notice how our build up was nonexistent when it was reliant solely on Gundo who wasn't even in his best form? Like dpmo 😭

[cecilyknight]

lunadainn headers (the annihilator, dark verse #5)

dt: @raisokolov

[jokerlennon]

yeahh annihilation header

yes!! it's such a gorgeous movie :-)

[calliope-is-new]

Alright, now that my memory banks have defragmented a bit, I'm done with those bulky, ugly file request headers.

Here is, simply, a collection of <my/her> thoughts in caves, reconstructed from journal entries:

(Trigger warning for second entry: discussion of general violence, strangulation, and death.)

When you're in a cave, it is so easy to be conpletely and entirely in the cave. It's one of the things I love about them: thoughts of outside melt away as you are completely engaged in the task of simply existing somewhere completely alien. The effort it takes to guide your feet and find your balance makes the process of dissociation natural, encourages it, even. It is the exact kind of comfort I get reading books like Annihilation when I am completely in over my head in all other aspects of my life. A comforting oblivion. An alien horizon to melt into. An excuse to merely survive.

At a certain point in my most recent experience with a cave, I saw a growth in the wall that swooped out by my face. It reminded me of a hip bone, its edge blunt, surface curved inwards in that natural shape. If I ran into it, I'd get a bump, perhaps I'd fall and that would hurt, and I would certainly get covered in mud, but nothing more would happen in all likelihood. I say that, because I would imagine people who don't like caves very much at all would have nightmares about being attacked by these kinds of things; masticated by pinpoint-sharp <stalagmites/stalactites>, slicing themselves open on axe-head shelves growing forcefully from warping rock walls. But that's not how caves work. Caves, like the human body (certainly not the only time one can use that phrase) are blunt in their violence. Realistically, you might die by falling, not even a far distance. Or you might be crushed in a cave-in. Just as with a human lacking tools, it is a barbaric form of violence, like strangulation or beating. But that's because, like humans, caves are not particularly made for violence. Where other animals have claws, other natural formations have thorns, and while we evolved larger brains, I can't even really say what caves got. They can hold their own, to be sure, and people do die in caves, from caves. It's tragic, and barbaric, and haunting. But a cave does not try to kill humans any more than it is simply not made for them. Though bats and some snakes find their homes there, caves aren't really made for anyone in specific, really, and so they can be quite dangerous when we approach them with the idea that they are.

"I found something in that cave," she said, in reference to her first, "And in those shadowed halls it reached out its fingers to me, wrapped them around me, took me. I have never been the same since I found myself face to face with it."

[whiskeysmulti]

[meme] - Ash

﹉﹉﹉

From 10am until now, King had spent the day reading with Ash at the NYPL, he was surprisingly pleasant company to read with. True he preferred the non fiction, but he was here to learn, King was just there to absorb everything. Not that they would admit it, but while fiction was fun, it still held non-fictional truths for King. If a something was fake in this world, didn't mean it couldn't still be a world elsewhere. They thumbed over the page of the fantasy novel, and sighed, setting it down to crack open the dictionary nearby them to learn what yet another ancient word meant. Blue eyes glanced up through black hair to see Ash still researching, nose deep in the stack of books around him and a hand on the keyboard of the computer. He really did enjoy this place. They watched as the hours ticked on, and King frowned gently, they would soon be kicked out if they were caught still lingering. The hour was 7pm and 8pm was closing time. Darkness was spilling across the streets, only to be annihilated by the street lights flickering on. King looked at the topics he was researching, noting them in their mind. They then scrolled their saved offline databases on their phone for the topic or anything related to it. Humming under their breath they tapped the tablet they had brought, pulling up the information for it onto the screen. It was different information than what he had been learning, times were different and all that, but... King figured he'd appreciate it. And so they walked up to the desk, asking if they had a copy machine. They had one, and so King fifteen minutes of the remaining hour in the library copying their information from their tablet onto copy sheet pages, and spent the remaining 45 hand copying what notes needed to be translated, into American English for Ash, into a notebook they purchased. Returning to the table Ash sat at with the stacks of books, finding him nearly asleep, and grumpily staring at the pages and the big screen of the computer in front of him.

"'ey. Instead 'f passin' out 'ere an' gettin' weird marks on yer cheek- Why don't we 'ead back an' ya can look ov'r these notes I compiled fer ya. If ye're worried 'bout a fav'r- Consider it savin' me fr'm havin' t' carry ya back..."

King thumped the notebook down, and the stack of stapled copy papers down in front of him, the header labeled with the subject he was researching. They watched him get up, cautious around him, not knowing what they would do if he collapsed. They still were unsure if he was okay with physical contact, hand hovering nearby but not close enough that they'd touch him without his consent.

"Though... As a pr'caution, in case ya do collapse, do I 'ave yer permission t' carry ya, or 'm I supposed t' call up one 'f the boys?"

Their voice was unsure, but not in the flustered way more in the hesitant if he'll even process what they're asking anymore way. He did look dead on his feet from too much researching...

(Hey. of passing. here and getting. your. head. and you. over. for you. you are. about. favor. saving. from having to. you. precaution. you. have your. to. you. am. to. of.))

My muse has been working all day non stop and collapses in front of your muse, how does your muse react?- no longer accepting!

Ash had been reading and researching all day from the time the library opened until a little bit ago when he suddenly passed out in the rose reading room, his favorite place to go. He often enjoyed the silence and peace of the New York Public Library and always joked he'd die there one day. However he hadn't expected to do so much research he fell into a deep sleep at the desk, stack of books next to him as he scribbled down notes on medicines and drugs that possibly could be Banana Fish.

He'd been there all day once again and hadn't realized how tired he was until he started to drift off and heard the sudden 'thud' of the books next to him. He looked at his watch when King said something and got up and put the books away and saved his notes on the laptop to a microsoft word document.

"You're right, we should head back. I'll treat you to dinner for staying with me all day." Even though that dinner would be two hot dogs from one of the local carts, it was still something.

[bowyooo]

my dudes

my friends

you couldn’t even imagine how good my commissioned fanfic about Benji and Kevin is

i was annihilated (already did a bunch of sketches and drafting a header art for it; also planning to translate it into eng)

[warmcoals]

Hey Anna! Big Golden Truths fan here, hope it's not weird for me to pop up in your inbox like this but I noticed both the GT blog and Jenn's personal blogs are gone, do you know what's happened there? Thanks ❤ (I immediately started worrying if Jenn's alright because I worry about everything all the time haha)

thank you so much for listening to and enjoying golden truths!! poor jenn got annihilated by tumblr, and goldentruths was technically a sideblog so it got Got too 😔 however, you can re-follow our dear golden witch @ahoneesan, and good news, she's been hard at work on the next episode!!you might even be able to expect a double-header of episodes for book 7 in january if jenn uses her strongest spells...!!

you can still message jenn, me, or send emails to goldentruthspod@gmail.com. and get all this info, our episodes, and more at http://goldentruths.net (contact form available on the site too)! please look forward to our gay asses finishing this game!!!! 🙇‍♀️

[existentialvoidofexistence]

🎶✨️when you get this, put 5 songs you actually listen to, then publish. Send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (negotiable, but positivity is cool)🎶✨️

Fantastic timing, anon, given that I just redecorated my blog all music themed !!!

I can't work out how to add my mp3 files to the post directly so you're stuck with Spotify sorry <3

1.

My new icon is an edit of this album cover, because it rules. Love is like is my favourite from this album <3

🎵 Love is like a bullet in the head, o-oh 🎵

2.

It's difficult to really explain what's going on with experimental music but this one's pretty and I like the album art so it's my header now

3.

Scene Queen my beloved ♡ this is where I got my new blog title. She's just really good at balancing the heavy sound with serious discussions of misogyny while maintaining a fun, campy vibe - 18+ is another great example of that, if it's something you're interested in [cw: it is about sexual predators in the music industry]

4.

I think these guys might be my favourite band right now. This song in particular I think is great, though. The samples are particularly effective in supporting it's dissection of fascist ideology, as well as just being fun, and it's just an all-round bop.

5.

I have no idea what they’re talking about unfortunately - I can't even tell if the song is in English or Mandarin through the growls - but I do think the intro is absolutely chilling.