Name: Lumina, the Illuminarian
Description: Lumina is a radiant and benevolent character that serves as a guiding light within the world of Roblox Doors. It appears as a luminous being, emanating a soft and warm glow that illuminates its surroundings. Lumina's form is composed of pure energy, taking the shape of a graceful figure with outstretched wings that resemble ethereal feathers.
Abilities:

1. Luminous Radiance: Lumina has the power to emit a radiant light that dispels darkness and brings clarity to the world. Its presence alone can brighten the darkest corners and reveal hidden paths, making it an invaluable guide for players exploring the Doors universe.
2. Healing Aura: Lumina possesses a soothing aura that promotes healing and rejuvenation. It can channel its energy to restore health and vitality to those in need, providing support and encouragement to players as they navigate challenges and overcome obstacles.
3. Telepathic Connection: Lumina has the ability to establish a telepathic link with players, enabling it to provide guidance, advice, and insights directly into their minds. It can share knowledge about the Doors, offer hints, and impart wisdom to aid players on their journey.
4. Flight and Ethereal Movement: Lumina can effortlessly glide through the air, allowing it to traverse various terrains and reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Its ethereal movement gives it a graceful and weightless quality, making it a versatile and agile character within the game.

Weaknesses:

1. Dark Corruption: Lumina's radiant energy can be weakened or corrupted by powerful sources of darkness or negative energy. Attacks or influences that specifically target its light-based abilities can diminish its powers and temporarily hinder its ability to guide or heal.
2. Disrupted Connection: Interference with the telepathic link can disrupt Lumina's ability to communicate with players effectively. Mental barriers, magical interference, or certain gameplay mechanics can momentarily sever the connection, limiting its guidance and support.
3. Limited Combat Abilities: While Lumina possesses healing and supportive powers, it lacks offensive combat capabilities. It relies on its radiant light and the assistance of players to defend against aggressive adversaries.

Lumina, the Illuminarian, is a character that brings hope, guidance, and healing to the players of Roblox Doors. Its presence serves as a beacon of light in the game world, offering assistance and wisdom as players embark on their own journeys of discovery and adventure.
Regenerate response

Hello everyone! I’m Doc, He/Him, 17, a young DM with a love for storytelling. I’ve always wanted to delve into a campaign inspired by media such as Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn, and other games I’ve always got to watch my dad play while I planned my sessions for a year now… So, that led me to begin planning this campaign! I'm not too experienced at reddit so this is a shot in the dark.
I have been playing D&D for about 3 years, Dming for 1, and I am super excited to find some possible players for this. I’m looking for a maximum of 4-5 players, with a heavy focus on roleplay and character development. I recently took a class in anthropology and have been really inspired to run a campaign inspired by a specific culture, particularly east asian cultures, so here we are!
I would say I'm a fairly loose dm. I don't mind bending rules to let you do something cool and I heavily focus on RP, less combat (as I am terrible at balancing.) I REALLY love involving my players' backstories into campaigns like these so if you have any cool characters I’d love to hear about them and push them into the story! I dont use VTT’s (however I do track combat encounters etc in my own creative ways) and am entirely theater of the mind style in my dming. We will be using DNDbeyond, as I have quite the amount of sourcebooks on there. I will totally be willing to help you guys make characters that fit into the story as well if thats your cup of tea!
Please note this campaign is NOT a place for people who are close minded. I am aiming for;
An age range of 16-22
Open minded people (Queer, Disabled, POC friendly)
People who are okay with no VTT/Theater of the Mind style
People who don’t follow rules to the extreme in D&D People with a consistent schedule
And most of all, people are willing to have fun!
A bit of info about the world can be found below, along with its plot hook!
~
Amidst the somber silence that permeates the battlefield, a lone ronin cuts a solitary figure. His footsteps echo softly as he traverses the scarred earth, his presence a solemn tribute to the fallen. The wind whistles through the empty spaces, murmuring secrets of honor and sacrifice. With a fluid motion, the ronin sheathes his blade, its steel gleaming with a bittersweet gleam. The weight of countless lives hangs heavy upon it, a reminder of the battles fought and lives lost. In that moment, the ronin's gaze transcends the mortal realm, his eyes fixed upon a distant horizon, where the souls of fallen warriors find solace.
As he lingers among the fallen, the ronin's voice, a timeworn rasp, resonates through the air, carrying a message. "In the realm of sacrifice, warriors become eternal," he murmurs, glaring towards the ground.
The ronin stands tall, a silent guardian amidst the remnants of conflict, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. In his quiet yet peaceful presence, the fallen warriors find solace, their sacrifices acknowledged, and their memory preserved. And as the moon rises over the battlefield, casting its cool hues upon the landscape, the ronin steps forward, his dull eyes focused on the crimson moon above.
~
Shinkoku (The continent) is a land of captivating contrasts. Beautiful forests bursting with vibrant wildlife give way to serene bamboo groves, where the whisper of the wind through the slender stalks creates an ethereal melody. Rolling plains, adorned with fields of swaying golden wheat, provide a picturesque backdrop for peaceful villages and thriving farmlands. The continent is dotted with sacred sites, where towering buildings and tranquil shrines stand as testaments to the spiritual connection between mortals and the divine. Hidden within the depths of ancient forests and atop mist-shrouded mountains, these sacred places serve as gateways to realms unseen and hold the wisdom of generations past.
Shinkoku is a realm steeped in history and honor. The ruins of ancient empires, crumbling castles, and battle-scarred fortresses stand as echoes of the conflicts that have shaped the land. The echoes of the samurai's code of Bushido resonate through the mountains, carrying tales of noble warriors who upheld their honor and fought for justice. Yet… Many seemingly are stuck in the past.
But amidst the breathtaking beauty and profound tranquility, shadows lurk in the corners of Shinkoku. Political intrigues simmer in the palaces of powerful daimyos, while clandestine organizations seek to exploit the realm's hidden secrets. Supernatural creatures, both benevolent and malevolent, roam the land, their presence shaping the destinies of mortals and spirits alike.
And at the top of it all, the shogun of Shinkoku rules eternal.
~
Interested? Go ahead and fill out this google Forum! I look forward to seeing you all :) Note this post will be closed once I feel I've gotten enough responses, or its been 24 hours! If you have any questions, leave them below!
Cheers!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0xDzQVpmStcfTLsIl5BKuNdSQrXyBJMHCRfv\_8fkZxX6FIA/viewform?usp=sf\_link

New Music Friday is the weekly thread dedicated to cataloging all the Album/EP releases that came out this week, including non-subreddit relevant releases. This is also a great place to discuss these albums, or bring to attention other albums released this week.

❓ "this seems intriguing after a cursory look"
⭐ "im interested in this for one reason or another"
❤️ "ive been waiting for weeks, months/i'm absolutely in love with this"

June 2nd

⭐ Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert
Label: Domino
Genre: Post-Punk, Art Punk, Gothic Rock
Beach Fossils - Bunny
Label: Bayonet
Genre: Indie Pop, Jangle Pop, Dream Pop
❓ Bully - Lucky for You
Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Indie Rock, Noise Pop, Post-Grunge
⭐ Pupil Slicer - Blossom
Label: Prosthetic
Genre: Mathcore, Post-Hardcore, Blackgaze
Body Type - Expired Candy
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Punk
❓ KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER
Label: n/a
Genre: Jazz-Funk, Synth Funk, Art Pop
RVG - Brain Worms
Label: Fire
Genre: Indie Rock, Jangle Pop
Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better Than You
Label: Heavenly
Genre: Art Pop, Indie Pop, UK Hip Hop
Ben Folds - What Matters Most
Label: New West
Genre: Piano Rock, Pop Rock, Singer-songwriter
Jake Shears (ex-Scissor Sisters) - Last Man Dancing
Label: Mute
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Lanterns On The Lake - Versions Of Us
Label: Bella Union
Genre: Dream Pop, Chamber Pop, Indie Pop
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Council Skies
Label: n/a
Genre: Post-Britpop, Chamber Pop, Post-Punk Revival
FRANKIIE - Between Dreams
Label: Paper Bag
Genre: Indie Pop
Generationals - Heatherhead
Label: Polyvinyl
Genre: Indie Pop, Bedroom Pop, Electropop
Anthony Naples - orbs
Label: ANS
Genre: Ambient Techno, Downtempo, Neo-Psychedelia
Purr - Who Is Afraid Of Blue?
Label: ANTI-
Genre: Psychedelic Pop, Indie Pop
❓ Half Moon Run - Salt
Label: BMG
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Folk Rock
Sam Blasucci - Off My Stars
Label: Innovative Leisure
Genre: Indie Pop, Singer-songwriter
❓ Gorgeous - Sapsucker
Label: n/a
Genre: Experimental Rock
Vulfmon - Vulfnik
Label: Vulf
Genre: Pop Soul, Jazz-Funk
Gula Blend - Allt har hänt
Label: Rama Lama
Genre: Surf Rock, Garage Punk
Gal Pal - This and Other Gestures
Label: Youth Riot
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
❓ Lost Under Heaven - Something is Announced By Your Life!
Label: n/a
Genre: Art Pop, Indietronica
De Staat - Red / Yellow / Blue
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Rock, Dance-Punk
The Aquadolls - Charmed
Label: Enci
Genre: Surf Rock, Indie Surf, Indie Rock
Rancid - Tomorrow Never Comes
Label: Epitaph
Genre: Punk Rock
**Kildas - No Harmony
Label: n/a
Genre: Progressive Rock, Jazz-Rock
WITCH - Zango
Label: Partisan
Genre: Zamrock, Acid Rock
Louise Post - Sleepwalker
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop
⭐ Tigercub - The Perfume of Decay
Label: Loosegroove
Genre: Alternative Rock, Stoner Rock, Garage Rock
Sorry Girls - Bravo!
Label: Arbutus
Genre: Pop Rock
McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Label: City Slang
Genre: Jazz Rap, Conscious Hip Hop, Neo-Soul
❓ DZ Deathrays - R.I.F.F.
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Rock, Garage Rock Revival
Ben Harper - WIDE OPEN LIGHT
Label: Chrysalis
Genre: Singer-songwriter, Folk Rock
OLTH - every day is sOmeOne's speciaL day
Label: n/a
Genre: Screamo, Metalcore, Emoviolence
MILLY - The Freed Milly (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Noise Pop
❓ Public Phone School - Public Phone School
Label: n/a
Genre: Noise Rock, Powerviolence, Synth Punk
Kiltro - Underbelly
Label: n/a
Genre: Psychedelic Folk, Indie Folk, Latin Alternative
Speakers Corner Quartet - Further Out Than The Edge
Label: n/a
Genre: Jazz
Brandt Brauer Frick - Multi Faith Prayer Room
Label: Because
Genre: Minimal Techno, IDM, Electroacoustic, Nu Jazz
The Stools - R U Saved?
Label: Feel It
Genre: Punk Rock, Garage Rock
❓ Levyosn - Levyosn's Lullaby
Label: Borscht Beat
Genre: Folksong, Acoustic, Klezmer
Wire Crimes - The Impermanence of Things (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie
Jelly Kelly - Warm Water (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Punk, Indie Rock
Monika Linkyte - HEALING
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Soul, Adult Contemporary
Trixie Mattel - Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Dance-Pop, Nu-Disco
Stray Kids - 5-STAR
Label: JYP
Genre: K-Pop, Trap, Pop Rap
CIL - Tears Dry On Their Own (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop
Big Time Rush - Another Life
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop, Dance-Pop
Elettra Lamborghini - Elettraton
Label: Island
Genre: Reggaetón
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - HANA
Label: Douglas Valentine
Genre: Pop Rock, Synthpop, Alternative Rock
The Aces - I've Loved You For So Long
Label: Red Bull
Genre: Pop Rock, New Wave
Dj Smokey - Nuked Out Dance Party
Label: n/a
Genre: Instrumental Hip Hop, Trap, Experimental Hip Hop
DaBoii & The Mekanix - Soakin Game
Label: n/a
Genre: West Coast Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap, Detroit Trap
J Billz & Pi'erre Bourne - Streetz Hottest Young'n
Label: n/a
Genre: Trap
Moneybagg Yo - Hard to Love
Label: Cocaine
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Trap, Pop Rap
Metro Boomin - METRO BOOMIN PRESENTS SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (SOUNDTRACK FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE MOTION PICTURE)
Label: n/a
Genre: Film Soundtrack, Trap, Pop Rap
❓ Ghais Guevara - Goyard Comin': Exordium
Label: n/a
Genre: Hardcore Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
⭐ Avenged Sevenfold - Life is But A Dream...
Label: Warner
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal, Metal Metal Metal Metal
Bongzilla - Dab City
Label: Heavy Psych
Genre: Stoner Doom Jams
❓ Girls Under Glass - Backdraft
Label: n/a
Genre: Gothic Rock, Industrial Rock, EBM
Omnium Gatherum - Slasher (EP)
Label: Century Media
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
⭐ Rival Sons - DARKFIGHTER
Label: Atlantic
Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
BURNT SKULL - Daylight Mutilation
Label: n/a
Genre: Noise Rock
❓ IUSA - ABANDON
Label: n/a
Genre: Blackened Sludge, Post-Metal
Einar Solberg - 16
Label: InsideOut
Genre: Symphonic Rock, Progressive Rock, Art Pop
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
Label: Roswell
Genre: Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Shoegaze
❓ Messiahvore - TRANSVERSE
Label: n/a
Genre: Stoner Metal
Red Cain - Nae'Bliss
Label: n/a
Genre: Progressive Metal, Alternative Metal
Risin Sabotage - MACABRE
Label: Interstellar Space
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Saint Karloff - Paleolithic War Crimes
Label: n/a
Genre: Stoner Metal
To Descend - Mindless Birth (EP)
Label: HPGD
Genre: Horror Pain Gore Death Metal
⭐ Unfurl - Ascension
Label: n/a
Genre: Sludge Metal, Mathcore, Dissonant Hell
Wytch Hazel - IV: Sacrament
Label: n/a
Genre: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock

May 26th

Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
Label: Island
Genre: Art Pop, Synthpop, Progressive Pop
Miya Folick - ROACH
Label: Nettwerk
Genre: Indie Pop, Alt-Pop
❓ Water From Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed
Label: Matador
Genre: Experimental Rock, Art Pop, Post-Industrial, Dance-Punk
Kevin Morby - More Photographs (A Continuum)
Label: Dead Oceans
Genre: Folk Rock, Singer-songwriter, Indie Folk
Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine
Label: Transgressive
Genre: Bedroom Pop, Alt-Pop
Saya Gray - QWERTY (EP)
Label: Dirty Hit
Genre: Psychedelic Folk, Indie Folk
Bayonne - Temporary Time
Label: Rough Trade
Genre: Indietronica, Indie Pop, Ambient Pop
Gia Margaret - Romantic Piano
Label: Jagjaguwar
Genre: Ambient, Field Recordings
Shirley Collins - Archangel Hill
Label: Domino
Genre: English Folk Music, Traditional Folk Music
Boy & Bear - Boy & Bear
Label: n/a
Genre: Folk Rock, Indie Rock, Indie Folk
❤️ Phoxjaw - notverynicecream
Label: Hassle
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Alternative Metal
❓ Stuck - Freak Frequency
Label: Born Yesterday
Genre: Post-Punk, Art Punk, Post-Hardcore
The Orielles - The Goyt Method (EP)
Label: Heavenly
Genre: Space Age Pop Drones
AJJ - Disposable Everything
Label: Hopeless
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Chamber Pop, Anti-Folk
⭐ Clark - Sus Dog
Label: Throttle
Genre: Art Pop, Electronic, Ambient Pop, Progressive Electronic
Demob Happy - Divine Machines
Label: Liberator
Genre: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock
Panic Pocket - Mad Half Hour
Label: Skep Wax
Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop
❓ Stimmerman - Undertaking
Label: n/a
Genre: Art Rock, Noise Grunge
❓ Miranda and the Beat - Miranda and the Beat
Label: Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Genre: 60's garage rock/soul
Yuksek - Dance'O'Drome
Label: Partyfine
Genre: Nu-Disco, Balearic Beat, Dance-Pop
Miss España - Niebla Mental
Label: n/a
Genre: new-nowave, punky synthwave, riot grrrl
⭐ Victory Over The Sun - Dance You Monster To My Soft Song!
Label: n/a
Genre: Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal
Jacuzzi Boys - Glue (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Garage Rock, Indie Rock
❓ Twin Princess - Blood Moon
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Pop, Doom Country, Indie Rock
Moon Blue - The Moonlight Disco (EP)
Label: 777
Genre: Indie Pop, Lo-Fi Indie
The Dandy Warhols - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia, Post-Rock, Ambient Pop
Radiator Hospital - Can't Make Any Promises
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop
quickly, quickly - Easy Listening (EP)
Label: Ghostly
Genre: Jazz Fusion, Neo-Soul
Nate Schieble - plume
Label: n/a
Genre: Ambient
M. Sage - Paradise Crick
Label: Rvng
Genre: Ambient, ECM Style Jazz, Progressive Electronic
Divine Sweater - Down Deep (A Nautical Apocalypse)
Label: Better Company
Genre: Indie Pop, Sophisti-Pop, Chamber Pop
Chris Staples - Cloud Souvenirs
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Folk, Singer-songwriter
Kassi Valazza - Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing
Label: Fluff & Gravy
Genre: Americana, Singer-songwriter, Progressive Country
RF Shannon - Red Swan in Palmetto
Label: Keeled Scales
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia, Americana
sophie meiers - shine__space
Label: Epitaph
Genre: Bedroom Pop, Alternative R&B
Crucchi Gang - Fellini
Label: Universal
Genre: Indie Pop
The Dirty Nil - Free Rein To Passions
Label: Dine Alone
Genre: Pop Punk, Garage Punk
Daniel Blumberg - GUT
Label: Mute
Genre: Singer-songwriter, Experimental, Art Rock
Daði Freyr - I'm Still Making An Album 2/3
Label: AWAL
Genre: Funktronica, Dance-Pop, Synthpop
Dev Lemons - Delusional (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Alt-Pop, Indietronica, Bedroom Pop
⭐ JAAW - SUPERCLUSTER
Label: Svart
Genre: Industrial Metal, Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Westelaken - I am Steaming Mushrooms
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Rock, Alt-Country
Marco Mengoni - MATERIA (PRISMA)
Label: Epic
Genre: Pop, Adult Contemporary, Pop Rock
Matchbox Twenty - Where The Light Goes
Label: Atlantic
Genre: Pop Rock
Tia Kofi - Pride. Power. Pop. (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Dance-Pop
PRETTYMUCH - This Thing Called Love
Label: n/a
Genre: Boy Band, Electropop, Contemporary R&B
Lauren Jauregui - In Between (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Soul, Contemporary R&B
Kari Faux - REAL B*TCHES DON'T DIE!
Label: drink sum wtr
Genre: West Coast Hip Hop, Trap, Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul
Monaleo - Where The Flowers Don't Die
Label: n/a
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Contemporary R&B, Trap
Loïc Nottet - Addictocrate
Label: Sony
Genre: French Pop
Ethereal - Heat Death 4
Label: n/a
Genre: Atmospheric Drum and Bass, Downtempo
Manu Manzo - Luna En Geminis
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop, R&B
Cruz Cafuné - Me Muevo Con Dios
Label: n/a
Genre: Trap, Contemporary R&B
Hunxho - 4 Days in LA
Label: 300
Genre: Trap
Portraits of Tracy - Drive Home
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Rap, Alternative R&B, Art Pop
Khamari - A Brief Nirvana
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop
Dom Corleo - On My Own
Label: n/a
Genre: Trap, West Coast Hip Hop, Rage
Lil’ Keke - 25 Summers
Label: n/a
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap
Cochise - NO ONE'S NICE TO ME (EP)
Label: Columbia
Genre: Trap, Southern Hip Hop
Jay Worthy & Roc Marciano - Nothing Bigger Than The Program
Label: Marci
Genre: Jazz Rap, Gangsta Rap
Lil Durk - Almost Healed
Label: Alamo
Genre: Trap, Gangsta Rap, Pop Rap
$uicideboy$ - YIN YANG TAPES: Winter Season (1989-1990) (EP)
Label: G*59
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Memphis Rap
❓ Heart Attack Man - Freak of Nature
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Punk
Immortal - War Against All
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal
Kostnatění - Úpal
Label: Willowtip
Genre: Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Anatolian Rock
Metal Church - Congregation of Annihilation
Label: Rat Pak
Genre: US Power Metal, Thrash Metal
Vomitory - All Heads Are Gonna Roll
Label: Metal Blade
Genre: Death Metal
Cenobite - Torment Your Flesh and Explore the Limits of Experience
Label: n/a
Genre: Death Metal
The Foreshadowing - Forsaken Songs (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Doom Metal, Gothic Metal
In Tears - Stars Caught Tonight
Label: n/a
Genre: Blackgaze, Depressive Black Metal
⭐ Teitan - In Oculus Abyss
Label: Void Wanderer
Genre: Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Psychedelic Rock
Mesarthim - Arrival
Label: n/a
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Space Ambient
❓ The Mon - EYE
Label: n/a
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Drone
Oceanlord - Kingdom Cold
Label: n/a
Genre: Stoner Rock, Doom Metal
❓ Ockra - Gratitude
Label: Argonauta
Genre: Doom Metal
Speedwhore - Visions of a Parallel World
Label: Dying Victims
Genre: Thrash Metal, Speed Metal
❓ Seven Impale - SUMMIT
Label: Karisma
Genre: Progressive Rock, Avant-Prog

Credit for the original story goes to u/spacepaladin15.
[First] [Previous] [Next]
---
Memory transcript subject: Sasha Everett, ex-UN noncombatant
Date [Standardized Human Time]: February 29th, 2177
Location: Upper layer of City 23, Venlil Prime
“I’m going, I’m going! Gojids aren’t— khh-aah! — exactly limber in their older years, Sasha! Right, I don’t see anyone in this hallway either, you can come in.”
Sasha clambered through the window after her talkative gray-quilled friend, slipping through with significantly less effort despite her larger frame. The Rising Star was laughably unsecure; windows were unlocked and at chest height, with no alarm system to speak of. The hotel was in some sort of lockdown due to the exterminator presence, all residents and staff hiding behind locked doors. It would be an issue if their target was stowed in a room, but at least the halls were empty. All that left for security was the exterminators gathered at the entrance, and—
​
“Get back!”
An extended claw stopped her from tripping straight into an intersection, as Burai forced her back into the hallway. “There’s cameras here, they’ll spot you!”
“Haven’t they already seen you? You’re standing right in their view.”
“No, they… I mean, yes, but nobody’ll care about a Gojid in the halls. To a surveillance AI scanning a spaceport hotel, that’s business as usual. But as soon as a human steps out here, security will be notified about a ‘potential predation incident’. Just stay there, and let me… let… w-what?”
“Burai? What’s going on?”
Burai was staring down the hall, eyes rapidly flitting to focus on something which she couldn’t see from her view in the adjacent hall. His jaw was entirely slack for several seconds before he managed to collect himself.
“The, uh… cameras. The cameras are shut down. All of them, they’re staring at the ground and their lights are out. I think you can come out now.”
They had little time to spare, and hesitation would only hurt their chances. She paced out into the corridor alongside Burai, casting a glance down both ways. It was as he’d said; every camera was unlit and staring loosely at the floor. Likely Trish’s doing. No way to tell if (or when) they’d reactivate, so they had to get moving. Burai apparently thought the same, though his relatively stubby legs meant his sprint was about level with her stride.
As they moved through the hall at slightly less than record pace, Sasha began taking in her surroundings. It could be useful to memorize if they had to leave the way they came, so she absorbed every detail she could as they ran like hell/jogged with mild exertion. Orange walls, painted in a stepped gradient from burnt orange to a light cream. A fascinating choice for a world where the native species had orange-colored blood, but apparently they couldn’t be bothered to pretend that prey should be scared of anything bearing the color of their blood anymore. She had to admit, it was a welcome change.
Lining the walls were an assortment of mounted displays. Arranged in a pattern which looked random but was carefully considered for visual balance, they showed an assortment of artwork from every species. She even thought she recognized a few human paintings, mixed alongside the rest of the dizzying collage.
Maybe she had, but it was hard to say for sure. She didn’t have time to get a good look before every panel suddenly went dark at once, with nothing in the way of warning or fanfare. For a brief instant, the hall was filled with rows of ominous black rectangles, before two white lines of text appeared on each and every one:
​
FLOOR THREE LOBBY
LEFT OF VENDING MACHINE
​
The panels switched back to their previous display of artwork almost too quickly to read the message. Sasha was left briefly wondering if she was simply hallucinating from the stress, but Burai’s once-again slack jaw dispelled that notion. He looked up at her, trying to say something but failing for lack of breath.
They were on floor zero. The elevators were disabled due to the lockdown, and the stairs were arranged in such a way that one needed to cross around half the building to get to the next one up (whoever was in charge of planning apparently didn’t consider fire a real issue). If they were to make it upstairs before the exterminators caught up with them, they couldn’t be constrained by Burai’s sluggish pace.
In one beautiful fluid motion, she tore off her jacket, wrapped it around Burai, and picked him up. The thick flame-resistant plastic fiber made for an excellent barrier against his spikes, shielding her from a moderately painful and very embarrassing impalement. Burai squeaked in shock, but didn’t protest; they both knew that he couldn’t keep up with an endurance hunter’s jog. Without even the bare imitation of caution, she tore off towards the stairs with Burai in tow. They couldn’t afford to lose time playing at caution when their target was three floors above them through a bizarrely labyrinthian series of stairs.
—
They’d hardly made it halfway through the second floor when their progress was rather rudely interrupted. A small contingent of exterminators milled about the entrance to the stairwell, too engrossed in conversation to notice the couple of interlopers rapidly skid to a stop and duck behind an archway.
In the reflection of an unpowered screen near the door, Sasha and Burai watched the exterminators from a ‘safe’ distance. The majority of them broke away to rush down another corridor, leaving only two at the stairs: a Venlil and Harchen, judging by their frames. Snippets of their conversation drifted down the empty hall, intermittently cut out by the screeching sound of a broken automatic door repeatedly trying and failing to close.
“—on the first floor, either. You sure they—”
“—way. It has to be here somewhere. ‘Course, Yawi—”
“—d never! You know, that human can’t tell the di—”
On the next screech, Burai made his move. With the noise of the door covering the sound of his approach, he managed to get within meters of the exterminators undetected. At the last second before they noticed his presence, he moved around to make it look like he’d come from another hallway. Then, he drew a breath.
“H-Help! Help me!”
The two wheeled around, flamethrowers already primed before they spotted their assailant. Gojid were generally less than respected owing to their nature as cured predators, but an old man screaming for help didn’t exactly spark fear. Their weapons lowered, and the Venlil flicked a tail in friendly greeting. The Harchen seemed less amused.
“What are you doing outside of your room, Gojid? The hotel’s on lockdown. We’ve gotten notice of a bio—”
“No, no, please don’t make me g-go back there! There’s a… a h-h…”
“A human in your room? Mind telling us what you were doing staying with one?”
“I heard… I heard crying on the outside of the door, so I let him in… I didn’t realize it was…”
The Venlil put a gentle paw over the shaking Gojid. “I understand. Don’t worry, its deception dies with us. You’re safe. Can you tell us what room it’s in now?”
“F-four.. nineteen.”
“I see. Kyura, go check out room 419. I’ll stay here and—”
“Wait! It’s got a… a…”
Burai didn’t finish, choosing to let himself devolve into another bout of feigned fear. In the absence of details, the two would imagine the human to be armed with whatever scared them most. His bet paid off; the Venlil rose to her feet and rushed after the Harchen with her weapon aimed slightly upward at what would be a human’s center mass.
He let his act continue for a few more seconds, apparently waiting until he was certain they wouldn’t double back before scrambling for the stairs. By the time he made his way up to the third floor, she was already beside him and panting slightly.
“What… was that?”
“Improv. You should try it sometime! Anyway, I don’t think we have much time before those idiots realize there’s no room 419 on this floor, so we’re really on the clock. You see what we’re looking for anywhere?”
Sasha kept breathing hard as she scanned the room, before wordlessly rushing off next to a window overlooking a side alley which connected to the one the rest of their their group was perched on. Underneath, a backpack emblazoned with the UN’s logo was stuffed haphazardly next to a vending machine. Apparently, it had been tossed there in a rush as the building was put under lockdown, rather than carefully hidden. She picked it up, looked it over, and nodded at Burai.
“Great. Although…” He looked around the room a few times before returning his attention back to her.
“...unless there’s a parachute in there, I’m not sure it matters much. The lower floors are crawling with exterminators. I don’t see any obvious exits, and I really don’t favor our odds for a 3-story fall. Sasha?”
“Burai, get over here.”
Burai sauntered over as fast as his legs would carry him. She gestured at the window with her head.
“...You can’t be serious.”
“I am. There’s a dumpster below us, we passed it earlier. Filled with fabric, probably a load of blankets they threw out. You’ll be fine. Just cover your head and land feetfirst.”
“Sasha, I think I’d rather burn— AHCK!—”
With Burai in one arm and the backpack in the other, Sasha kicked out the window screen and jumped before she could stop to regret the decision.
​
The brunt of the pain stabbed her side, as a couple of Burai’s spines slipped past her unzipped jacket to jab themselves in her torso. Aside from that minor embarrassing oversight, she was unharmed. Her complete lack of training was handily circumvented by sheer dumb luck and the merciful softness of discarded hotel bedding. By the time she reoriented herself, Burai was already dragging her out of the dumpster. Bedsheets clung to his spikes, but aside from his pride, he too seemed unharmed.
Another hand, or rather bandaged paw, pulled her to her feet. Tressa encircled her like a short fluffy snake, apparently checking for injuries. Satisfied after two coils, he switched to watching their flank as the rest of them regrouped and recuperated. James was helping Burai pick fabric from his spines. Trish eyed the backpack, before turning her attention to the spot of red at her side.
“Sasha, can you move?”
“Yes. It’s just a skin wound, I’ll be fine. Is Beast all set to go?”
James’ muffled voice rang out from behind her. “Practically raring, last I checked! And a good thing too, because we’re skipping town immediately. Don’t have any time for the usual runaround, not with all this unwanted attention.”
As they closed in on the main street, Sasha zipped up her jacket to cover the wound and slung the backpack over a shoulder. She tried to act normal and casual, though the most she could realistically manage in that regard was to cover any limp from the pain in her torso. The rest of them slipped into their rehearsed roles, immediately cutting any discussion about the situation in favor of meaningless small talk which nobody could take notice of. Hopefully, their acting would be enough to cover for her lack thereof.
The street was awash with people, a viscous fluid of bodies pulling every which way. The lively roar of activity would be enough to cover their tracks as they made their way back to Beast, even if the exterminators realized they had a runaway. Still, time worked against them. The sooner they could get going, the better.
—
Memory transcript subject: Kelsen, Venlil extermination officer
Date [Standardized Human Time]: February 29th, 2177
Location: City 23, Venlil Prime
Kelsen watched through the screen of a digital scope as the ragtag group of predators and predator diseased piled into their little barely-functional van, practically crushing each other for lack of space. Once they were packed in shoulder-to-shoulder like cattle, the pathetic thing sputtered to life and limped out into the street.
They must’ve assumed the van was untraceable owing to its advanced age. It was true that automated systems wouldn’t cooperate, but a tracker planted on the underside would have no issues. Their retreat would lead the law straight back to their den.
Well... OK, so maybe the law could wait a moment. Official practice dictated that anything “contaminated” by predators be burned without delay, but he just couldn’t have that. Since the idiotic Federation-wide ban on near-sentient surveillance AI a couple years ago, their leads on predator subversives were running thinner by the day. A raid could gather invaluable intel.
He already had a squad lined up, with body armor instead of hazard suits and kinetic weapons instead of flamethrowers. He’d even rallied up an investigator, a successfully reeducated human who hunted information rather than helpless prey. It would be such a shame to let all that go to waste and simply burn their hideout to ash; that could always come later. Besides, he’d put far too much effort into tracking this group to simply pour some napalm and call it a day.
His little raid would have to operate outside the law to get results. That hadn’t been an issue to arrange, of course, but it meant that if things went south they wouldn’t get any backup. He couldn’t afford to be hasty about this.
But he couldn’t afford to be passive, either. The facial recognition software they’d used to ID and track the Gojid was already skirting the law; their raiding party was actively flaunting it. Kelsen couldn’t let his noble work fall victim to the chains of bureaucracy.
If he wanted to get away with this, he’d have to do it tonight.
---
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​
DOOM 64 (Bethesda.net)
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GameDev.tv

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My REPs: 202 successful trades, 0 dispute.

• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• Aarklash: Legacy
• Agent in Depth
• Alchemist's Castle
• Aliens vs. Predator Collection (includes Aliens vs. Predator + Aliens vs Predator Swarm Map Pack + Aliens vs Predator: Bug Hunt Pack) (may keep)
• Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs + Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Among Us
• Arcade Spirits
• Armello
• Army Men RTS
• Assault Suit Leynos
• Backbone
• Battlecruisers
• Beat Hazard 2
• Behold the Kickmen
• Between the Stars
• Bezier
• Bionic Commando
• Bionic Commando Rearmed
• Blade Assault
• Blood And Zombies
• Brawlout
• Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
• [email protected]
• Builder Simulator
• Calico
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Cats in Time
• Chicka Wars Chicken Meat
• CivCity: Rome
• Click and Slay
• Concept Destruction
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
• Corridor Z
• Cosmic Express
• Cosmonautica
• Crayon Physics Deluxe (may keep)
• CROSSBOW: Bloodnight
• Dagon - The Eldritch Box DLC
• Darksburg
• Dead Age
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Death Squared
• Demon Turf
• Detached: Non-VR Edition
• Disciples: Liberation (may keep)
• Double Cross
• Doughlings: Arcade
• Doughlings: Invasion
• Draw Slasher
• Drawful 2
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Due Process
• EarthX
• EDGE OF ETERNITY (may keep)
• El Hijo
• Eldest Souls
• Emily is Away <3
• Encased
• Epic Chef
• Expand
• Fallout
• Farmer's Dynasty
• Farming Simulator 17
• Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue
• First Class Trouble
• Five Dates
• Fling to the Finish
• Forged Battalion
• Fortissimo FA INTL Ver
• Founders' Fortune
• Frick, Inc.
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Fun with Ragdolls: The Game
• GameGuru Classic
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Go Home Dinosaurs!
• Going Under
• GOLDEN LIGHT
• Golf Gang
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Guns & Fishes
• Guts and Glory
• Hack 'n' Slash + Soundtrack (& Spacebase GIFT)
• _ + Hack 'n' Slash_
• _ + Hack 'n' Slash Soundtrack_
• _ + Spacebase GIFT_
• Halcyon 6: Lightspeed Edition
• Harmony's Odyssey
• Heart Fragment - Book Two: Belief Fragments (Shannon & Lana)
• Helheim Hassle
• Hellbound
• HERO'S HOUR (may keep)
• Hexologic
• Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
• Hokko Life
• Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!
• How to Sing to Open Your Heart
• Hydrophobia: Prophecy
• Hyper Gunsport
• I’m not a Monster
• In Sound Mind
• INDUSTRIA
• Internet Cafe Simulator
• Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition
• Into the Pit
• Iris and the giant
• Iron Danger
• Izmir: An Independence Simulator
• Joggernauts
• JYDGE
• Killsquad
• Knights of Pen and Paper +1
• Labirinto 2
• Last Word
• Lawn Mowing Simulator
• Legend of Keepers
• LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
• Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry
• Let Them Come
• Lighthouse Keeper
• Little Orpheus
• Lust for Darkness
• Lust from Beyond: M Edition
• Maid of Sker
• Mainlining
• Mekabolt
• Meow Express
• MirrorMoon EP
• Monaco
• Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp
• Moon Hunters
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes
• Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
• Must Dash Amigos
• My Time At Portia
• N++
• NecroWorm
• NeuroVoider
• Neverinth
• Neverout
• Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition
• Non-Stop Raiders
• Of Orcs And Men
• Operation Tango
• Orbital Racer
• Othercide
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
• Override
• Overture
• Paradise Lost
• Partial Control
• Pathfinders: Memories
• Pathway
• PAYDAY 2
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
• PGA TOUR 2K21 (may keep)
• Pilgrims
• Pill Baby
• Pixplode
• Pixross
• Planet TD
• PlataGO!
• Plebby Quest: The Crusades
• Popup Dungeon
• Post Void
• PowerBeatsVR
• Project Chemistry
• Project Nimbus: Complete Edition
• Propagation VR - Co-op
• Proteus
• Pumped BMX +
• Quadrata
• Radio Commander
• Railroad Corporation
• Railroad Tycoon 2: Platinum
• Railroad Tycoon 3
• Raji: An Ancient Epic
• Rebel Galaxy
• Rebound Dodgeball Evolved
• Re-Legion
• Remnants of Naezith
• Resident Evil Revelations (may keep)
• Resident Evil Revelations 2
• Revita
• RIOT - Civil Unrest
• Roarr! Jurassic Edition
• Roboquest
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• ROGUE LORDS (may keep)
• RPG Maker VX
• Rustler
• Rym 9000

Sakura Alien
Sakura Dungeon
Sakura - Forest Girls set
- Sakura Forest Girls
- Sakura Forest Girls 2
- Sakura Forest Girls 3
Sakura knight set
- Sakura Knight
- Sakura Knight 2
- Sakura Knight 3
Sakura MMO set
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- Sakura MMO 3
- Sakura MMO Extra
Sakura succubus set
- Sakura Succubus
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- Sakura Succubus 4
- Sakura Succubus 5
- Sakura Succubus 6
Sakura Swim Club

• Save Room - Organization Puzzle
• Say No! More
• ScourgeBringer
• SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
• Shady Part of Me
• shapez - Puzzle DLC
• Shing!
• Sid Meier's Railroads!
• Siege Survival: Gloria Victis
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Slinger VR
• Smile For Me
• Sorcerer King: Rivals
• Soul Searching
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Spellcaster University (may keep)
• Spirit Hunter: Death Mark
• Stacking
• STAR WARS Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
• STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic
• Starpoint Gemini Warlords
• Stick Fight: The Game
• stikir
• Stirring Abyss
• Strange Brigade
• Strider
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• Sunlight
• Super Chicken Catchers
• Super Magbot
• Surviving the Aftermath (may keep)
• Sword Legacy Omen
• SYMMETRY
• System Shock 2
• System Shock: Enhanced Edition
• TaniNani
• Telefrag VR
• The Amazing American Circus
• The Beast Inside
• The Deed II
• The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR
• The Inner World
• The Invisible Hand
• The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante (may keep)
• The Next Penelope
• The Serpent Rogue
• The USB Stick Found in the Grass
• This War of Mine: Complete Edition (may keep)
• Ticket to Ride
• ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove
• Tools Up!
• Tooth and Tail
• Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt
• Traffic Jams
• Train Station Renovation
• Treasure Hunter Simulator
• Turmoil
• Underland: The Climb
• UnMetal
• Vanishing Realms
• War for the Overworld
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• WARSAW
• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
• White Noise 2
• Windjammers 2
• Worms Rumble
• WRC 7
• WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS
• XCOM 2
• X-COM: Complete Pack (including X-COM: UFO Defense + X-COM: Apocalypse + X-COM: Enforcer + X-COM: Interceptor + X-COM: Terror from the Deep)
• XEL
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack (including X-Morph: Defense + X-Morph: Defense - European Assault + X-Morph: Defense - Survival Of The Fittest + X-Morph: Defense - Last Bastion)
• Yoku's Island Express
• Zombie Driver HD Complete Edition (including + Zombie Driver HD + Zombie Driver HD Apocalypse Pack + Zombie Driver HD Burning Garden of Slaughter + Zombie Driver HD Tropical Race Rage + Zombie Driver HD Brutal Car Skins + Zombie Driver HD Soundtrack)
• ΔV: Rings of Saturn

​
DOOM 64 (Bethesda.net)
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (ORIGIN key)
Liberated (GOG key)
STAR WARS: Squadrons (Origin)
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Dishonored 2 (GOG)
​
Software

• Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 7
• GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months
• Music Maker EDM Edition
• Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook
• PDF-Suite
• Polygon Farm, Polygon City, and Polygon Prototype

GameDev.tv

• Complete Unity 3D Developer

Zenva Academy

• Intro to Game Development with Unity

#########################################################

Region is NA

​
My REPs: 202 successful trades, 0 dispute.

Instead of the typical vanilla flavor, if they served a 💩 it would be quite funny. They could even put edible eyes and mouth on it to make it look like the emoji.

From What Orlando Bloom felt was so important to tell President Zelensky"

Actor Orlando Bloom recently visited Ukraine as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador. During a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, he decided to read Zelensky something written by Ikeda Daisaku, leader of a Japanese religious movement called Soka Gakkai International (SGI).
That’s certainly one way to spend a very limited amount of time with a world leader.
Let’s examine what Bloom thought was so important about Ikeda’s words—then learn about the authoritarian religious movement that Ikeda controls. Source
The letter Orlando Bloom read contained Ikeda’s thoughts—but Ikeda didn’t write them for this occasion
Reading the thoughts of a Japanese cult leader to President Zelensky might seem like an odd choice, considering Bloom went to Ukraine on behalf of UNICEF and not SGI.

Cult members will ALWAYS seize the opportunity to flog their cult instead of what they agreed to do. You can't ever trust them.

According to the Daily Mail, the reading wasn’t even written for Zelensky, but something that Ikeda had written to young adults in the United Kingdom in 1994. Even if his group’s (arguably) most famous member was making a historic visit, Ikeda couldn’t be arsed to write Zelensky a bespoke message. So Bloom had to make do. Source

Sick burn.
Sure, Orlo did his best, but he certainly didn't have much to work with, did he?? It's not like Ikeda is up and about these days - he hasn't made a speech or given an interview since May 2010! If SGI superstar ORLANDO BLOOM put in a request for a personalized message for Volodymyr Zelensky, SGI World in Tokyo IGNORED IT.

This isn’t even the first time Bloom has shared Ikeda’s words with others. In 2016, he shared quite an interesting theory Ikeda had about how political power will develop in the near future. (Spoiler alert: It’s the same thing he read to Zelensky in Ukraine.)
It just seems very strange to me that Ikeda’s SGI connection—and Orlando Bloom’s very public membership in the group—have attracted so little attention in this story. Source

Maybe it's because the SGI is irrelevant and boring?

Recruitment efforts, which SGI calls kosen-rufu, also lead to the recruiters themselves “developing even more appreciation,” which leads to a marked increase in “one’s own blessings.” Source

If they can't invoke selfishness, they won't get ANYTHING out of those self-centered SGI members.

There’s a definite Underpants Gnome logic to the entire scheme. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t cooperate much with SGI’s big promises. Ikeda himself puts a lot of pressure on his followers to be or at least look incredibly successful in life—as a way of enticing new recruits into the fold.
Sound familiar? And it doesn’t work for evangelicals either, because all too many people can tell these would-be evangelists are just faking it all. Source

SICK BURN!!

At least President Zelensky is a good sport
After Orlando Bloom earnestly read his cult leader’s 1994 message to UK youth, Zelensky replied with the universal soft dismissal:
“Cool,” Zelensky replies nodding his head.

THERE's your "soft power"!!

“You have a heart!” Bloom tells the president, tapping Zelensky’s chest, to laughs from the Ukrainian leader and other staff in the room.

Ew. No touchee.
I'll bet they all had a good hearty laugh at Bloom's expense once he was out the door - "Can you even believe that asshole??"

As Bloom is seen leaving the room, he is seen turning back to tell Zelensky about a video he has on his phone: “My mother sang the Ukrainian national anthem. She says, ‘If you see Zelensky, you tell him to win!'” he says while pumping his fists in the air. Source

The author continues with the exact right reaction:

There are not enough vertebrae in the world to handle the amount of cringe I felt upon reading that exchange.

As I mentioned earlier, the story Ikeda wrote is about a knight who has lost everything but is trying to put a good spin on his losses. It’s completely flabbergasting that Bloom thought this was even slightly appropriate to read to someone dealing with an invasion from a vastly-larger world power.

😱
SGI members often exhibit such cluelessness and inability to read a room.

Nonetheless, what Bloom did was something I could easily see myself doing when I was Pentecostal in the 1980s and 90s. We all lived for those rare opportunities to slide “the Gospel” in front of someone important like that. And bagging such a prominent, popular, well-known world leader would certainly be a rare feather in SGI’s cap.
But that “cool” and that head nod tells me it will never, ever happen. Source

Yet another Ikeda cult "dialogue" that went NOWHERE and failed to persuade the target to convert to the werld's bestest religion that everybody supposedly wants! It didn't even serve to promote SGI much! MENTORFAIL!!

The first essay
In the previous post, I have discussed about the skirmishes on all corners of the internet, the systematic destruction of idea by algorithms, and the apocalyptic wasteland that is the Chinese internet. All were discussed in the last post, however, one thing was neglected from the picture: the “eldritch influence“.
In the first post, I have mentioned an intensive effort launched by RT and CCP to shape the narrative in favor of the invasion. However, as previously mentioned, due to a myriad of reasons, the entire effort lays to waste in the lone and level sands that stretch far away. They have abandoned their old way of setting up positions on RT's main channel and their Donbass offshoot "Donbass Today". In fact, back then DPR was extremely successful in their propaganda machine before Belgorod attacks. The amount of DPR lies actually made me lost my shit multiple times. You would never want to know what ideas I had to deal with the people of Donbass, in fact it almost becomes a rage trigger to me. Despite that, the pro-Russians stragglers are still there, and they are adapting. Nobody has declared surrender yet, so the war will just drag on, as Clausewitz has observed. Many of them are now operating purely out of spite, resembling the worst of the trolls in the west and their rhetoric began to be more similar to their twitter counterpart. Meanwhile, the Russian influence campaign is still ongoing in a more insidious and covert way. The internet arguments become more like UkraineRussiaReport than RussianWarFootage. The main focus of Russian influence campaign seems to be dedicated to creating artificial disinfolklores and some legitimately weird channels showcasing how good life is in occupied Mariupol. Sometimes pro-Ukraine content creators will be subjected to mass report and get banned, but most of times they have a backup account to minimize damage.
As previously mentioned, the Chinese domestic "analysts", one being pro-Russia and the other being pro-Ukraine, both ended up being noncredible, with one being Chinese Chuck Pfarrer and the other making schizo claims like Zaluzhnyi has intimate relationship with several female service members (is this supposed to make him look bad?) Of course, people began to adapt. On the pro-Ukraine side, there is now a guy called "Regent Taboritsky" (塔博里茨基摄政王 yes, this is a TNO reference). He was formerly a pro-Russian who use Artermovisk but has changed to the Ukrainian side. Meanwhile, other "analysts" has also underwent evolution. (ignore the next two paragraphs if you just want to read noncredible)
Do you remember the TNO reference? Why does Chinese also know about that? Actually, it shaped all Chinese political discourse. Chinese internet is a wasteland at best, years of censorship and bitter warfare has drained the land of creativity and independent thought. Many of the counterculture guys who I refer as PANOP (pan-opposition, an umbrella term for modern anti-establishment Chinese) are actually pro-regime folks who ended up graduating from college and have to work 12 hours a day. Despite having changed side, they are actually just the same, same mindlessness and malice, nothing more, nothing less. Meanwhile, censorship algorithms have systematically salted the earth, so that no organized ideology apart from the official one can be present. These efforts are eventually made futile thanks to one man - JREG (yes, you can trust your eyes). His political compass memes successfully provided the PANOPs with enough munition to blow up the internet. Eventually everything related to him got censored, but then TNO was there, the weapons are now everywhere, no amount of salt would ever stop them again. It's like the wars in Japan that lead to Edo period in many regards, battles with salvaged foreign ideas and memes where getting hold of foreign material becomes an immense power multiplier.
In fact, I have a very derogatory comparison for Chinese internet's relationship to the global one: the anaerobic tank of a sewage treatment plant. The worst crap of 4chan and beyond sedimented into the Chinese one, just like how the large excrement particles sedimented into the anaerobic tank after the initial aerobic respiration, and our netizens feasted on it like bacteria feasted on the fresh excrements. (my knowledge of sewage treatment comes from IGCSE biology, so it might be inaccurate). One of the most terrifying case of how this can influence Chinese internet was the alt-righters in '16. Actually, the largest case of the great meme war spillover was in China. During that time, everyone was fuming about Baizuo, the Chinese equivalent of SJW, while some others do stand for Bernie, most are taking up Great Replacement Theory and mocking Trans ideology. Many began to take Breivik as a hero and claim refugees are swarming Europe. Pizzagate was also a widespread meme back then. This exposure left a mark in the Chinese internet culture, which partially contributed to the recent surge in antisemitism in '23. To be honest with you all, after spending years on Chinese internet, I just can't stand regular Chinese netizen calling Azov guys neo-Nazi, they should look into the nearest mirror.
The hybridization described above then contributes to a new evolution of Chinese online discourse over the Ukraine war. Chinese posters are expert trolls and partisans, but they have a fundamental lack of first hand knowledge regarding war in Ukraine. Thus, contact with foreign sources becomes essential. On Zhihu, there are several accounts that have access to twitter OSINT accounts (accounts that are highly regarded by professionals). The most notable being Ducling, who have been a staunch pro-Ukraine guy with liberal tendency. He made a reference to Emil Kastehelmi："The Russian 'Special Military Operation' is getting increasingly special, even after day 453" for an question about the Belgorod attack. He also made a cope compilation (the most favored tactic of Chinese pro-Ukraine accounts, known as 合订本, that collects all the past pro-Russian claims as a method of discrediting the pro-Russians. Often with great effect ) of claims surrounding Bakhmut. For people who can't understand the information presented, Chinese internet slang was often designed to evade censorship and is highly informal, so you shouldn't understand it at all. There's another OSINT guy called Suyi控, who made the best analysis of the Discord files ever. Chinese OSINT guys tend to have a boner for Syrskyi, me included. Memelords have also adopted some stuff from twitter, I remember seeing the Putin attending Nuremburg escorted by fellas wearing MP uniforms on the profile on one of the accounts. At the same time, there are also pro-Russians who use the John McBurgers of Ohio oblast under Zelensky's tweet as proof of Ukraine is losing. This tactic can be incredibly effective due to confirmation bias, and in many cases RT have used the exact same material to propagandize both Chinese and Americans.
Bilibili, due to the limitations mentioned in the first article, relies on cruder extraction. There is a guy called Deepstate-carry (Deepstate-搬运) who basically cargo-cult through deepstatemap's telegram. In my opinion, the best combat footages come from a guy called Okken sight (欧肯视线), who is a true neutral source regarding combat footage, he contain a slight Russian bias but his videos are neutral, which led to him being criticized by both pro-Russians and pro-Ukrainians. I'd recommend folks on this sub who drank too much pro-Ukraine vranyo to be tied on a chair forced to watch his videos of both Russian and Ukrainian combat losses to remove overt bias and complacency. Meanwhile there are other pro-Ukrainian accounts such as CarlPacho (卡尔帕乔) who uploads Ukrainian combat footages and is a pro-Ukraine guy himself, recently he got banned but he's got a backup account. Meanwhile there are people translating Battle Order's videos, such as a guy called 101eagle and a guy who's called Marine rifleman (四等人的步枪兵). On Bilibili the materials used are often of inferior quality such a a gal doing analysis who is called frosty leaves of a thousand spring (千秋霜叶), her sources include Weeb Union (HistoryLegends' pal) and Chuck Pfarrer. She's pro-Ukraine by the way.
Now we have talked through all the developments of the pro-Ukraine side, let's face the pro-Russian abyss. As mentioned before, Bilibili has access to inferior foreign materials. Meanwhile pro-Russians coopt the pro-Russian war blogger model. The most notorious model being a guy known as SnailColgiweibo (蜗牛柯基weibo) who is basically a Rybar copycat, he is capable of mimicking Rybar to an astonishing degree and has the ability to cheer during Kyiv bombing (what about Donbass). I'd recommend you to stay away from Chinese internet unless you want to be dehumanized like me.
Recently, another person called Atuna (阿吞啊) popped up, he is some of the most capable pro-Russian ever. At first, he came out with translation of a RUSI report. However, in his next video, he uses HistoryLegends. Calling him a "neutral pro-Ukraine source". He marked a dangerous new development of pro-Russian messaging, the ability to use actual credible western sources to their advantage. Furthermore, there is another analyst called Mt. Guandong peasant Wangdaxi (关东山农民王大喜), who made a video detailing RUSI's latest report. He took great note of the adaptation by the Russian armed forces while dismissing the mentions of poor Russian morale as "western hubris", "illogical" and "political correctness". The Wangdaxi person is actually a protégé of sort of the person who claimed Russia is going to take Lviv (that guy deserves his own article), and it seems like now there's an advanced sect of pro-Russian who have access to information. One of his fans in the comments even took a jab at Suyi控, indicating a capability to compete with even the most experienced Zhihu OSINTer. And to make it worse, HistoryLegend serves as a force multiplier of this next-generation pro-Russia crowd. He is basically an A-10 in this "comment section war", he and his pal WeebUnion exerts little use to pro-Russians on YouTube, Reddit and twitter, as the pro-Russian effort is largely focused on amplifying western internal grievances such as the border crisis and China baiting. On 4chan his soyjak face will get mocked to oblivion. However, he truly shines in China. Perun's videos are too lengthy to be translated, meanwhile military history visualized have a long interval and Lazerpig is relatively obscure in China due to meme incompatibility and being too noncredible, he is unrivaled. The way he feigned a neutral pro-Ukraine stance makes it even more damaging, even to the point of starting a disinfolklore began to be built around him, claiming he cried during the fall of Bakhmut, claiming he was a pro-Ukraine guy ostracized by other due to unwilling to follow blindly pro-UA lines.
Warning: Schizo rant below, proceed with caution
Want to hear my stance? Well, maybe they are the right guys all along. I'm not really a member of this sub, I'm always cynical, always skeptical, and always doubtful. Whenever I see the next generation pro-Russians, I become shrouded in doubts. What if they are right? In many cases pro-Ukraine folks are drawn into intellectual traps, such as the need to hold Bakhmut, a city with little strategical importance. And a lack of acknowledgement of Russian adaptation. It could be the Winter War all over again, the Finn fought valiantly, but who controls Karelia now? I have an irrational fear, may it remain irrational, that the average NCD user is no better than the new generation of pro-Russians, that we also lack any critical thinking capability like a mindless horde. The doubt just echoes inside me, it accompanies me whenever I saw a Ukraine flag on someone's twitter handle. Such cynicism often end up manifesting into outbursts against pro-Ukraine positions on reddit. I took a grim enjoyment being the "conscience of NCD" where I regard many as vranyo obsessed individuals no better than the vatniks. If there's anyone reading the passage whose uncle work at GUR, don't ask him to [REDACTED] that soyjak off the surface of the earth. Don't. Chinese opinion does not chance the course of the war. If I have a button to delete Jackson Hinkle's twitter account at the course of every single pro-Ukraine account in China, I'd press it. We can achieve nothing, absolutely nothing. It's a losing battle from the beginning. Such is the reality of Chinese internet.
I see a bad moon rising.

****WARNING****
***
Body Horror, bugs, death, gore. Attempted horror.
By my own standards, this is fairly tame, your mileage may vary, content advisory.
***
Captain Van’tu, the Garaboosian commander of the Alliance of Free Stars light scout cruiser Mandrake, frowned, in the way of his species, and gestured with a lower lefthand at his human science officer to continue.
The woman turned back to her console, to peer into the hood of her ‘scope and minutely adjust a control.
“The ship is an old Terran Alliance Explorer class, the TAN Nebula Star. She was reported overdue for resupply a little over a hundred years ago, exact details are spotty as the station she was supposed to report to was destroyed in the Terran civil war. By modern standards she was little more than a heavy cruiser with an oversized jumpcore, and limited weaponry. The Terran Alliance Navy was very much focused on exploration and first contact, and several of their vessels vanished without trace only to show up decades later in pirate hands. However, this does not seem to be the case with the Nebula Star…”
The image on the holotable was mute testimony to this information. The old starship, much more massive than the Mandrake, but significantly less well equipped, looked derelict. Several holes gaped in her once-pristene white hull, the smooth lines marred and crooked, and the jumpcore bulb near the stern showed a terrible, blasted crater, black with soot and melted steel.
Captain Van’tu scrolled the smooth wheel of the holo controls, swivelling the image and zooming into the damage.
“What do we think of this, Sasha, that looks like an internal explosion, not battle damage.”
“Yes Captain.” Sasha, the science officer, agreed. She manipulated a pad on her side of the console. Several sidebars lit up. “Here, here and here. Chemical signatures we’ve picked up in the dustcloud around the wreck, and the blast pattern, indicates a high yield chemical explosive was utilised, we would need to get a scan from inside the wreckage to be certain, but I think I can confidently say this was caused by a c4 package commonly kept as part of ship inventories of that era. We carry a similar type of explosive even now, it has uses in a number of emergency protocols.”
The captain nodded. “I’m familiar with Human paranoia, ‘better to have and not need than need and not have’, which is why I learned to carry a backpack heavier than myself at the academy.” He smiled at the woman, who grinned back in that wolfish human fashion.
Commanding a Terran vessel as part of the Alliance Navy was a high honour for a non-Terran, and he’d earned it the hard way, he’d actually completed his officer training on Earth itself, heavy gravity, lethal flora, fauna, and practical jokes be damned, he’d always dreamed of command, and he had never planned to settle for anything less than the best ships of the fleet.
Somehow his determination to ‘make it’ had actually impressed his trainers and teachers, and earned him the interest of a senior Admiral, which explained his current command. And he was no ticket-puncher, his crew was, in his opinion, the best in the fleet, and if his ship was small, he was so proud of her, some days he could almost burst his hearts from it. She was his first, and with luck, not his last, and while scouting duty following pre-war exploration routes was far from glamorous, it was essential work for the Alliance, following up first contacts, reopening lost trade routes, and, now and then, coming across relics, and giving closure to the descendants of those vanished vessels.
“Alright. She looks cold, and her reactor is dead, but we don’t know what happened to her, she could have run afoul of pirates, or been captured and misused for decades, or been left boobytrapped, so pack up a SAR shuttle, and give them a leader drone, they don’t enter unless the drone clears the way in.”
“Aye aye Captain, I’ll get them on their way. Sidearms?”
“Yyy…esss. Yes. And overarmour. If someone’s left any surprises, it will help.”
Sasha turned and walked off, already tapping her communicator to summon the personnel she’d be sending.
He frowned again, looking into the depths of the hologram. Something was bothering him, the same sensation he’d felt while visiting a zoo on Earth. Humans around him grinning, nodding to one another, and the confirmation of his worry came as a boom of hundreds of pounds of apex feline carnivore crashing against the high density crystal he’d been standing with his back to…
Something was creeping up on them, he could feel it.
***
The shuttle launched from the brightly lit boatbay of the Mandrake, arcing smoothly through the glittering blackness towards the cruelly murdered starship. In front of it zipped the mote of the drone, its scanners and sensors slaved to the shuttle, giving the drone specialist on board an instant feed to all his senses, feeling, experiencing everything the drone saw.
It zipped around the gaping hole where the jumpdrive had once been housed, then around in a helical pattern, scanning every micron of the lost ships hull, mapping it in complete three dimensional perfection, then tracking towards the boatbay. Inside, two, much older, versions of the Mandrakes shuttle rested, crooked against their davits, the bay airlock doors lying open.
The drone slowly crept inside the dark corridor as the shuttle followed it in, nestling into an empty davit. Power hookups, identical after a century thanks to long ago agreed standardisation, marry up, pogo pins compressed and energized, drawing trickle power from the shuttle to latch securely.
The crew debark, except the probe operator who remained strapped in his jumpseat, guiding the drone deeper into the derelict.
Suited figures follow its path, jumping from the shuttle hatch to the airlock. They don’t bother trying to seal it, it had been lying open for a century, there was no air left within to preserve. The drone met a cross passage, and moved right, headed towards the bridge, following schematics downloaded from Mandrake’s computer. The scout crew followed, alert, and making note of damage to bulkheads, the carpets that once covered the floors looking torn, dark stains telling a worrying story.
The probe entered the bridge of the Nebula Star and paused. The LIDAR scanner illuminated the space in a slow pass of green laser light, left to right and back again. The chamber was empty, save the various consoles and chairs the crew would have used, and the lone figure of the Captain, in his central command chair.
To Captain Van’tu, observing the time delayed remote feed on his own bridge, it was remarkable just how similar the darkened derelict wreck was to his own vessel, down to the arrangement of bridge consoles and type of carpeting used. He’d read, in one of his intro to ship design classes, that Terran bridge layout owed much to speculative fiction of pre-spaceflight eras, and a lot of experimental wet-navy designs.
He'd brought it up once with his chief of engineering, who had responded with a ridiculous approximation of a Scottish accent, “Aye laddie, we Terrans owe an awfy lot tae an auld lass called the Enterprise!” and laughed, continuing his explanation in his more natural German accented standardised Terran. Van’tu had spent several informative evenings with his console, soaking up ancient Terran entertainment as a result.
The drone circled the bridge, slowly, keeping its thruster exhaust well clear of the mummified body in the central chair, making its way to the science console. A small arm popped out and slotted into the consoles data port.
Several lights flickered on the antique panel, the probe powering up the cold circuits to read the datalogs, then around the room, dim red lights came to life, as more of the bridge woke up. Through the hull itself, a faint whine transmitted, the probes oversized fusion battery providing enough current to trigger the startup of a backup generator below the bridge.
The scouting party stepped in, peering around. One, her grey skinsuit marked with a red stripe down the arms, moves across to the captain, a medical scanner in her hand.
“I’m reading significant trauma throughout the corpse, but remarkable preservation as well. Life support must have been glitching badly for a long time after… Wait…” She smacked the side of the scanner, then passed it back across the corpse. “Scanner keeps picking up my own heartbeat, trying to tell me this guys still alive, fucking thing.” She put it away in the side pocket of her suit and pulled out a smaller device. “I kept my old one, should be good enough to… Fuck me sideways…”
“Maybe later Carol, what’s the script?” A green stripe on the party leader’s arm. He was looking around, feeling… itchy, between his shoulder blades. Something wasn’t right, and not just the dead ship. He’d been lead on two other derelict searches, and they never went like this. Accidents happened, people died, usually horribly, and you always found, well, bodies. Whole or otherwise. Yet, aside from the clearly traumatic bloodstains on the floors, soaked long before the artificial gravity had failed, this ship hadn’t shown them a single body, nothing, not even fragments.
Not only that but he could swear he’d seen movements. No-one else had, but he also knew that his reflexes tested significantly higher than average, he was seeing something the others were simply not noticing.
Carol stepped away from the corpse.
“My old scanner says this guy’s alive Mark. Heartbeat, brain activity, oxygenated blood. He’s not breathing and he’s a fucking corpse, but both my scanners say he’s gooey in the middle. And I’ll be honest I don’t want to be here, send probes back across on AI control and let them explore, this is too freaky. I know you’ve been seeing shit, well, I’ve been picking up weirdness all along, and this is too much. We should leave!”
Mark bit back a curse. He agreed, but he was also supposed to be a professional, and as the leader of the scout team who first boarded the derelict, he’d have been slated for command of the ‘prize crew’ to bring her home. At the same time, he was holding back a growing uneasiness, his other two team members were shuffling nervously, and Carol was on the edge of panic.
“Alright, we head back to the shuttle and leave the probe to grab the logs. Something’s weird here, might be the atmosphere on this thing, I admit it’s spooky, but we all know I see weird bugs and things other folk miss, and Carol, you’ve had that personal scanner since high school, if it’s saying something weird, something weird is going on. If Captain… Morrison, is still alive after a century in vacuum, he can keep a few more hours until the AI probes can collect him. We’re not equipped for medical evac anyway.”
They stepped back through the hatchway, leaving the probe to its work. Emergency lighting flickered into life, adding a lurid red glare to the tableaux, Mark, last to leave, sharply snapping his head back around as something… He was reminded of a time as a child, he’d turned over a log in his parents’ yard, and hundreds of inch-long centipedes had scurried in panicked circles to escape the sudden glare of sunlight.
Nothing moved, aside from the slow pulsing of rebooting computers.
He followed his people towards the shuttle.
One by one, they made the leap back to the shuttle davit, and boarded, cycling back aboard, and taking their seats. The drone pilot barely moved to acknowledge them, clearly lost in the datefeed from the old computers, and aside from a quick glance across readouts to ensure the data was flowing cleanly to the Mandrake, Mark didn’t disturb the man.
He hit the switch to release the davit clamps, and the popped free. The shuttle turned, and smoothly glided out, aligning with the mothership and headed home. He blinked and shook his head. That motion again, out the corner of his eye. He glanced over, seeing the drone pilot’s faceplate swarming with legs for a fraction of a second.
“Uhh, Josh, you alright there?” He hated breaking into drone pilot concentration, but this wasn’t right, and Carol was gesturing desperately at him from her chair. He reached across, and nudged Josh’s shoulder, the skinsuit collapsing under his fingers and the skull clacking loosely against the faceplate.
***
Captain Van’tu listened to the soft report coming from Sasha, the scout crew had found the captain of the derelict but were returning early due to some unsettling information they’d found. He didn’t like it, but he also respected human instincts. If skilled officers felt there was a reason to withdraw before mission completion, he knew better than to override the human-on-the-spot.
He’d have a word with Mark later, in private, if necessary, but the man had never been wrong before.
Across the communicator, there was a sudden eruption of yelling, the shuttle on the holo spiralling wildly. Sasha was demanding a clear response from the screaming communicator.
Mark came over the channel. “Abort mission, contamination, alien threat…” His words ended in a gurgling scream, the kind that began high and ended, eventually, in a growling snarl of mortal agony. The line remained open, however, and the entire bridge crew turned to stare, mouths agape, as into the silence the faint sounds of gnawing began to echo.
Sasha shut off the feed with a shaky finger. “Captain, I…”
“I know. Arm several probes, get them to the shuttle, find out what happened and…”
Once more, attention fell to the holo display, as on it, the icon of the shuttle winked red. Sasha motioned, and the focus zoomed in. Where the shuttle had been, a spreading scatter of debris remained.
She pulled up the sidebars again.
“Right before Mark, uh, died, his authorisation codes were used to trigger an overload on the shuttle reactor. We didn’t pick up the feed in real time, they were returning after all, but all of them suffered catastrophic biological distress immediately before their lifesigns cut out. Mark was the last one alive, and severely injured when he triggered the reactor.”
Captain Van’tu shook out his lower hands with a stress-shedding gesture. “The shuttle reactor is in a sealed compartment. He had to get from his chair to the access panel and enter his code, while suffering life threatening injuries which had already killed the rest of his crew?”
“Yes, Captain. I’m sorry, I missed it, my team is still processing the data, but it looks as if the drone pilot ceased responding several minutes before the shuttle departed the wreck. At five minutes into the flight, the three junior officers began exhibiting distress, but gave no verbal alerts. Mark seems to have reacted to something that triggered a fight or flight response, but within a few seconds was exhibiting the same injury markers as the others. At the six-minute mark, he sent his warning, while moving. It appears as if the cessation of his vocalisations was not the end of his life, almost thirty seconds later his code was entered into the shuttle reactor, and it detonated.”
Captain Van’tu moved to his command chair, and sat down, lower hands grasping the armrests, upper hands folding under his chin. “Helm, chart course back to the nearest Alliance outpost, and warm up the jumpcore. Tactical, bring shields to standby and start charging the grasers, I don’t like what’s happening, and I do not want to be caught with our backs turned.”
His crew moved into action, tactical alerts bringing various stations to readiness.
“Sir! We’re receiving a communications request, uh, from the Nebula Star.”
He stared at his communications officer, who looked equally shocked.
“Please, Jen, put them through to the main holo.”
The hovering image of the wreckage that had once been a shuttle vanished, replaced by the familiastrange image of the old bridge, and its captain.
The man was a corpse, there was no debate. The papery skin had pulled back from his eyes and teeth, his nose collapsed inwards, decades of icy coldness and baking heat as the derelict tumbled slowly from shade to sunlight had freeze dried the body, yet, it moved. The jaw flapped open, and the sticklike arms gestured against the command chair arms, clawed fingertips clicking uselessly.
“Gree. Tings. Un. Known. Vess. Sell. I. Am. Cap. Tan. Morr. Iss. Son. We. Come. In. Peace.”
The corpse in the holo quivered and twitched in some horrible mockery of life, the bared grey teeth clicking as the jaw spasmed open and closed, not, Van’tu noted, in time with the words being spoken. Inside the jaws, he also noticed, something black and shiny and segmented.
“I highly doubt you come with any sort of peace in mind, what are you really, and what did you do to the crew of the shuttle who boarded the ship you are on.”
The body twitched, a trickle of black ooze popping free from the corner of the sunken eye socket. Under the dried up eyelid, something squirmed around, curling with segmented motion, a few pointed claws poking briefly free before vanishing once more.
“I. Am. Cap. Tan. Morr. Iss. Son. We. Come. In. Peace. We. Rek. Wire. Ass. Iss. Tan. Sse. Let. Uss. Board.”
An alert flashed from Sashas direction. A gesture diminished Captain Morrison to a corner of the holo and expanded the view of the derelict. Two shuttles of archaic design had just launched from it and begun making their way towards the Mandrake. He muted his pickup and turned to his tactical officer.
“Jeff? They do not get close enough to board.”
“Aye aye sir, tracking has them locked and my grazers are charged.”
“Very good.”
He returned to the holo and reopened the grisly view of the dead man being puppeted on his display.
“You will not be permitted to board my ship. I demand to know who you are, what you represent, and why you are trying to impersonate Captain Morrison.”
“You. Are. Food. You. Have. Use. Full. Tech. Nol. Ogy. We. Will. Take. It. We. Will. Use. You. We. Will. Mul. Tip. Lie. This. Vess. Hell. Came. To. Us. In. Peace. We. Took. It. We. Came. For. Ter. Rah. We. Became. Trapped. We Became. Lethargic. We have waited. Now you have brought us. A new vessel to carry us. To Terra.”
Captain Van’tu shook his head. If these things were familiar with humans, they’d recognise the gesture. For the sake of understanding he’d long ago learned to at least emulate some human body language.
“You will not be allowed to go any further. I have a duty to safeguard the people under my command, and to the people of… Terra.” Whatever this species was, it was not something he wanted anywhere near a colony or, worse, defenceless homeworld, of any of the Allied or friendly species he knew lay between here and Terra herself. Best for all they only had Terra in mind.
“Sir! The incoming shuttles are not going for docking, they’re on a ramming approach! Firing solution lost on bogey one!” The Mandrakes grazers were firing, gunnery crews managing their weapons as they tracked automatically and fired, spearing one of the wildly corkscrewing shuttles with lances of gravitationally focused gamma radiation. The second shuttle however spun, and fell downwards, smashing into the still warming shields, and through, impacting the Mandrakes hull with tremendous speed.
The scouting vessel shuddered. The shuttle had breached through the outer hull and spilled into a mess area.
Thanks to the alert condition, all crew had been in skinsuits, not that this helped the two cooks who had been finishing off the lockdown of the mess kitchen.
Fresh alerts sounded, the sound of which sent crewpeople to arms lockers. Mandrake had been boarded.
Captain Van’tu pointed to his tactical officer. “Destroy that wreck! vaporise it!”
“Sir! Weapons are offline, on-mount crews are reporting power losses.”
Across the bridge, the communications officer looked up. “Reports coming in, boarders are breaking out of mess two!”
The captain snarled. Ancient Garaboosians had warded off predators with that sound, and his teeth bared in an animalistic threat display. He slammed a finger into the appropriate button on his armrest.
“All hands, all hands, defence stations, repel boarders!”
His head snapped around. “Sasha, do we still have telemetry from the drone on the Nebula? If so, I want it to shut that shitheap down, or overload its reactors!”
His science officer acknowledged with an “Aye captain!” and turned to her console.
He returned to his holo. Removed the mute. “You have attacked an Alliance of Free Stars vessel, while using a Terran Alliance vessel reported lost to causes unknown. I am hereby declaring you to be pirates, and you will be treated accordingly. Surrender now and you will be returned to your government or homeworld after serving a prison term to be determined by Admiralty courts.”
He did not expect the thing pretending to be Captain Morrison to surrender.
“There will be no surrender. We will take all you have and all you are. You will be ours to consume and use.”
His tactical alert flashed, somehow, the older ship was charging its weapons systems. He flicked a gesture, and the old vessels appeared, with sidebars. The weapons were underpowered, and normally not really a threat to a modern vessel, but the Mandrake had just been rammed by a shuttle, cutting power to her own weapons, and disrupting her shields, it would take several more minutes to regenerate them.
He glared at the grinning visage of the corpse which was still mimicking life. The left arm was still quivering against the rest, fingertips drumming against a keypad almost identical to his own. From the bottom of the sunken belly of the dead man, a slowly undulating shape crawled, a thick-pincered head, followed by a segmented body flowing with sharp-tipped clawlike legs. It moved upwards and climbed back in through Morrisons throat.
“Captain, boarders have been destroyed. Sir, they were humans, but they were dead. Like mummies. They had some kinds of bugs inside, we had to go in with plasma to clear them out.”
“I see. Ensure all the bulkhead seals around the messhall compartment are still green, and pull everyone back, full medical scans on exit. Once everyone is clear, blow the compartment.”
“Uh, yes, sir, understood. Engineering teams are saying they’ll have full weapons restored in eight minutes.”
“Good. We can’t allow any of these things to get back to inhabited space. I want that wreck vaporised. Mess compartment too.”
He continued to watch the dead mans fingers rattle against the old command chair. And nodded.
“Captain Morrison, it has been an honour. Captain Van’Tu, out.”
In the holo, the corpse finally went still. The creatures which had inhabited him began to swarm, black blood and ichor bursting from his skull as the mother of the monsters which had ridden his body and his ship since they had tricked their way aboard a century before, burst free from her manipulating, feeding grasp in his skull.
“Captain, the drone has fully copied the Nebula Stars database, but is unable to access any critical systems. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay Sasha. When we have weapons available, we’ll finish whatever is left.”
“Sir? I don’t understand what…”
The holo tank cut her off. The Nebula Star had fired its engines, angling towards an intercept with the Mandrake, it needed to be much closer to engage with its much more primitive weapons. As the engines flared to life, fire blossomed across the aft hull. Multiple explosions rippled through it, billowing outwards from within, as the reawakened fusion reactors, initially stirred to life by the probes batteries, then by crawling undead crew hidden in the ships dead spaces, all overloaded, and detonated in a final orgy of self-annihilation.
There was a shudder again, as the Mandrakes crew activated the emergency charges that blew an entire section of the ship into space, carrying with it the bodies of dozens of the Nebula Stars crew, hundreds of incinerated and still crawling parasitic alien monsters, and the corpses of two unfortunate cooks.
“Begin sweeping everything in range with fire, maximum power and aperture, everything must burn. I want medical and bio survey teams going around the clock scanning for any trace of those things that might have breached containment. For the record, I will be recommending the Mandrake be scuttled once all crew are cleared and disembarked. Needless to say, we will not be making any landfall or station docks before then.”
He sat down in his command chair. He couldn’t remember standing up. He stared down at his armrest, and the keypad on it. With the fingers of his bottom left hand, he began typing, sending the results to the main holo where Sasha watched, curious.
ENMY HMWRLD r41429.135 i334451 b-1.791 KILL BURN QURTN
The rest of the sequence was the override code that would trigger the Nebula Star to overload its powerplants and blow itself to pieces before it could be used against its creators.
“Captain? How did you get that message? The log entries are still being processed, but it doesn’t look like anything coherent survived, there’s no co-ordinates in them.” Sasha was confused, and Captain Van’Tu smiled.
“Humans, you’re all the same when it comes down to the wire. Mark blew his shuttle rather than let it dock with those things on board. Even while they ate him alive, he crawled through his command, to do his duty to his species, and to the galaxy. Captain Morrison held off death, kept those things guessing, somehow, as they tried to use him, his ship, to reach Earth, made them keep him in some sort of horrific half-life, until they were distracted enough that he could get back control of his hand. His chair Sasha, same as mine. Probably came out of the same factory, a century apart, and he was typing, while they tried to speak to us, while they tried to board us, shoot us, while we distracted them, he set them up to give us the knowledge he knew we would need to ensure they would never threaten anyone again.”
Fire was still blossoming across the larger area of the holo display, graser weapons detonating fragments of hull with nuclear fire.
“Once we’ve cleared the skies here, we head to an outpost, and start warning the Admiralty. Jobs not over until these things are completely contained.”
***
103 Years, 4 months, 5 days before.
Jack staggered, his leg still bleeding from where a crewman had slashed at him with fingers broken into sharp bone claws. He’d stamped the mans head until the skull popped, rupturing the centipede thing curled inside. He was close. The familiar, once comforting hallways of the Nebula Star had become nightmarish, red lighting and blotches of gore, streaks of blood on the pristine walls, he was living in a horror game, but he had a job to finish.
He pushed off the wall he’d leant against. Behind him, he could hear screaming, and begging. He didn’t stop. It was a trick. They found the noises amusing, and mimicked them, discovering that it could draw in ‘helpers’ they could ambush.
Aft section, frame fourteen, jumpcore bay. He slapped the button, and fell through the door as it slid open. Inside, the bay was immaculate, no-one had been in here since this had started. How they had gotten aboard, he didn’t know.
Inside the skull of a landing team member, he could guess.
He knelt beside the humming machinery. His vision was going grey around the edges, he could feel dripping around his knees, he was kneeling in a pool of his own blood after only a few seconds, he didn’t have long.
He pushed his burden against the drive casing, the chem-catalyst agent on the back bonding it to the drive with a molecular weld.
He pressed the keypad of the emergency c4 cannister, the detonator arming with a beep, and a green telltale.
He typed in a code, short, sweet, he’d forgotten it by the time he reached the end, it didn’t matter. The disarm code was only for when you wanted to be able to stop the countdown. Ten seconds.
They reached him, before it finished counting. Inside his brain, they couldn’t find the code to stop the bomb.
The Nebula Star would not reach Terra, he made sure of that.
As the jumpcore failed, blowing a ragged hole out of the sleek hull, a single shuttle spun away from the boatbay, damaged, lifeless, cold and drifting outwards into the depths of space, the mutilated human corpse within stirring once with scurrying life, then going still.

For sale, for Steam gift cards (or gifted Steam Wallet balance):
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• Dark Souls™: Prepare To Die™ Edition (removed from Steam Store; $350 $400 or best offer)
• Fall Guys (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Dragon Hugger Pack (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Icy Adventure Pack (removed from Steam Store)

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• Humble Hunie Sakura Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Australia Fire Relief Bundle or similar))
• Humble Sekai Project Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Stand with Ukraine Bundle or similar))

​
For trade:
*tentatively up for trade, assuming I buy the bundle
​

• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition

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• Bionic Commando: Rearmed
• Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
• Lost Planet 3 - Complete
• Mega Man Legacy Collection
• STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®

​

• Aground
• Calico
• Evan's Remains
• Lake
• StarCrossed
• Teacup

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• Into the Radius VR

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• Aliens: Fireteam Elite
• Founders' Fortune
• Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp

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• Nomad Survival
• Scarlet Tower

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• The Citadel
• Forgive Me Father
• Viscerafest
• WRATH: Aeon of Ruin

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• The Blackout Club

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• BIOMUTANT
• Edge Of Eternity
• Golden Light

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• Call of the Sea
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

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• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• The Amazing American Circus
• Armello
• Backbone
• Calico
• Cris Tales
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• Farming Simulator 17
• Ghostrunner
• Gotham Knights
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Lust from Beyond: M Edition
• Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
• Orbital Racer
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• PAYDAY 2
• Pilgrims
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Starfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo key) and Starfinder Adventure: Junker's Delight (Paizo key)
• Strange Brigade
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• System Shock 2
• System Shock: Enhanced Edition
• Ticket to Ride
• XCOM® 2
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack

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• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 76
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Othercide
• Shady Part of Me

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• The Last Campfire

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• Sakura Swim Club

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• Summer in Mara
• Townscaper

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• The Long Dark: Survival Edition

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• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

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• Conan Chop Chop
• Grow: Song of the Evertree

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• Styx: Shards of Darkness

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• Hard West
• John Wick Hex
• Phantom Doctrine
• Red Solstice 2: Survivors

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• Arizona Sunshine

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• Backbone
• Blade Assault
• First Class Trouble
• Super Magbot

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• Golf Gang
• Maid of Sker

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• Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest

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• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

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• Baldur's Gate: Faces of Good and Evil
• Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

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• Crown Trick

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• Guts and Glory
• Hello Neighbor

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• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• STAR WARS®: Knights of the Old Republic™ II

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• Duke Nukem Forever
• PGA TOUR 2K21
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds

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• Emily is Away <3
• In Sound Mind

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• Little Big Workshop
• Not Tonight

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• Brigador Deluxe Edition
• Verdun

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• Resident Evil 0
• Resident Evil 6
• Resident Evil
• Resident Evil Revelations

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• EVERSPACE™

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• Dreamfall Chapters

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• Cultist Simulator
• GWENT: The Witcher Card Game - Ultimate Starter Pack (GOG key)

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• The LEGO® NINJAGO® Movie Video Game

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• 2064: Read Only Memories

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• Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense

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• STAR WARS™: Squadrons (Origin key)(?)

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• Bionic Commando
• Street Fighter V

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• As Far As The Eye
• Impulsion

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• Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)

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• Orcs Must Die! 2 - Complete Pack

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• Bartlow's Dread Machine

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• Blaston

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• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

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• The Walking Dead

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• Total Tank Simulator

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• Archangel: Hellfire - Fully Loaded

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• XCOM® 2

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• Black The Fall
• Goetia

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• Highway Blossoms

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• Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition

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• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• This War of Mine

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• Tom Clancy's The Division™ (Uplay key)
• Tom Clancy's The Division™ - Survival (Uplay key)

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• Highway Blossoms
• HunieCam Studio
• KARAKARA
• Sunrider Academy
• Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition

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• Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack

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• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met

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• Hacknet
• Satellite Reign

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• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut

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• The Elder Scrolls: Legends: 2 Card Packs (Skyrim) 1 Event Ticket 100 Gold 100 Souls
• ESO Vanity Pet: Bristlegut Piglet and 15 Days of ESO Plus

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• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• KARAKARA
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project - Season Pass

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• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Sakura Angels
• Beach Bounce
• Beach Bounce - Soundtrack
• Blue Rose

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• Lionessy Story
• My Personal Angel
• Natural - Beyond Nature -
• Postmen Of Horizon (removed from Steam Store)

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• The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude

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• Koi-Koi Japan [Hanafuda playing cards]
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle : School Girls Edition
• Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold'em
• Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire

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• Guns of Icarus Alliance
• Guns of Icarus Online
• Impossible Creatures Steam Edition
• Lethal League
• Tempest: Pirate Action RPG
• Tempest - Treasure Lands
• Tempest - Original Soundtrack
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

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• For The King
• Book of Demons
• PlateUp!
• Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
• Steel Rats™
• Hue
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle (Epic key)
• Gal*Gun: Double Peace
• The Invisible Hours
• Synergia
• ROCKETRON
• Project Nimbus: Complete Edition
• Dead Age
• Dusk Diver 酉閃町
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Slain: Back from Hell(?)
• Cook, Serve, Delicious!
• Tower of Time
• Danger Scavenger
• Survive the Nights
• The Beast Inside
• Valfaris
• Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition
• This War of Mine
• My Time At Portia

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• Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 - Here Be Dragons

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• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• Book of Demons
• Broken Age
• Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
• Crying Suns
• Crying Suns
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Liberated (GOG key)
• Moon Hunters
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
• Rustler (Grand Theft Horse)
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories (GOG key)
• WARSAW
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC (I believe this redeems as the linked Complete Pack, minus the soundtrack)
• ΔV: Rings of Saturn(?)

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• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Deliver Us The Moon
• Morkredd
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Survivalist: Invisible Strain
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2
• ENDLESS™ Space 2
• Surviving the Aftermath
• The Long Dark

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• Blade Assault
• Founders' Fortune
• Hokko Life
• Monster Crown
• Fallout 76
• Othercide
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition
• ScourgeBringer
• Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
• HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED™
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sonic CD (removed from Steam Store)
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®
• Bionic Commando
• Full Metal Furies
• Ultra Street Fighter® IV
• Starbound
• Mafia III: Sign of the Times
• Outlast 2
• BioShock 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter
• The Mean Greens - Plastic Warfare
• Crusaders of the Lost Idols Legendary Starter Pack
• Project CARS (removed from Steam Store)

​
WANT:
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• 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
• A Hat in Time
• Avernum: Escape from the Pit
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• CrossCode
• Dead Rising 4
• Dungreed
• Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition
• NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
• NECROPOLIS: BRUTAL EDITION
• Omensight: Definitive Edition
• Submerged
• Tower Unite
• Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War

​
IGS Rep Page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/ti26nz/mizznos_igs_rep_page/

This term is not known well enough for how omnipotent the application of it is in instances of media, films, politics, even daily personal interactions. I will offer some examples of what I refer to as a "chin-tickle" being demonstrated.
First I will explain, the idea of this term is that something of real world relevance is being conveyed in an unclear format that often involves "double-speak" or suggests upon a variety of potentially valid interpretations, though aside from misinforming the viewer with a confusing format there is also the intention of condescending them for failing to comprehend the hidden kernel of truth that resides within the confusing subject matter.
In other words, by "chin-ticking" someone, you are essentially toying around with their boundaries of perception / recognition by metaphorically slapping them in the face (or else, tickling their chin) with something that they might otherwise be able to perceive yet are failing to do so because of their own ignorance / incompetence.
For instance, the "chin-tickle" being applied here, "Why can't we just abolish daylight savings time?" is a demeaning reference to the fact that the 24 hour daily cycle of time passage has been significantly reduced gradually over the last however many years. So that is to say, in other words, daylight savings HAS ALREADY been abolished (in a sense) ... however, those readers / viewers that are too ignorant to perceive the kernel of truth here are doomed to have their chin tickled over the matter of the subtle relevance of the statement having gone over their head.
I have measured this myself, actually. Instead of 24 hours there now is less than 16 hours of time passage per day. This is a fact, I have confirmed this myself. Otherwise I find that this should already be apparent for many reasons, most of all for people that have been alive since before the year 2000, to note.
Other examples might go something like, "Being a celebrity / a leader / the president / a hero ain't all you'd imagine it to be ..." (as in to hint at what happens to all those who become celebrities of some field by some means & quite literally are duped into "selling themselves to 'The Devil' for stardom", which indeed does cost them their actual life / freedom / happiness in most cases); or "Technology is not my / your / our friend ..." (as in to hint at how most applications for more advanced technology are clearly not aimed at serving the people in a vital promising way, even though there are countless applications of mediocre technology that seemingly serve the common person on a daily basis to their liking); it might even be something quite vague & broadly suggestive, like a random news story or trivial post titled "There is NO WAY any of this is actually real ..." (as in to hint at the risible nature of our whole modern world & its functions, at a glance; although the actual contents of the story / post may have nothing to do with that particular subject matter.
As you can see, it doesn't even have to be the opposite of what you really mean (such as in the case of classical sarcasm -- calling someone Einstein after they bungle something or responding to something immediately obvious by sarcastically remarking, "no, really?" -- it can rather be a simple matter of underplaying the significance / relevance of the given subject matter. Especially in the case of broader grand scheme relevance. Perhaps you're familiar with the common saying, "Money is the root of all evil ...", which ultimately refers to the enormous relevance of this idea over the scheme of all human history. Money IS evil, to humans. It is essentially the bait that supplies the hook with an attractive quality from the fish's perspective, so that the fisherman can get the fish to bite at its own expense. Similarly, money was invented in the first place with the sole intention of gaining control over all human interest to where they could virtually MAKE people want certain things they never would have otherwise been interested in.
It is pretty embarrassing for the human race how much those in power are able to get away with, in terms of flippant deception / misinformation. Another common chin-tickle might be demonstrated as, "the government is NOT able to control everything that goes on, especially with international affairs ...", (notice how that is obviously the opposite of the actual truth, yet still might pass as convincing enough to gain the belief of the modern person in American culture).
If you are wise to the way the world actually operates it can become quite easy to realize when someone (or something) is attempting to tickle your chin with some selective wording or interpretive demonstration of some solicited values or ideals.
To note, a great abundance of modern chin-tickling aims in the direction of loosely inferring upon the overwhelming prevalence of cadaver reanimation (human to drone conversion) in the world today. An example of this might be how Americans are supposedly taken as dumb, brainless, ignorant, naive in some sense of culture or philosophy. The relevance of this in the broadest application is that cadaver reanimation often requires the total removal of the victim's brain organ (dumb, brainless) & has been most rampant in the development of the young American culture only after EVERY other national territory had already fallen victim to a near identical fate (ignorant, naive), though back through whichever time span of world history they happened to suffer it.
Cadaver reanimation was also the most advanced it had ever been during the founding of America & it was most successfully kept hidden from public knowledge even amidst the increasing prevalence of this practice as it ate away at the remaining human cultures on the Earth. In conclusion, America IS the most brainless (their brain organs are removed in order to prevent soft tissue rot once the cadaver is reanimated) & the most ignorant (the people are least of all aware of what is happening to their fellow humans, as they are converted into hollowed-out drone slaves that aren't even living anymore).
Realize the prominence of chin-tickling for yourself! See how often the algorithms that run every single facet of our modern world are working specifically to tickle your chinny-chin-chin! Try thinking twice next time you read something titled, "Russian / Chinese efforts to blah-blah ... Not going to end well for us!"

Hi all!
Writing as someone who started WGU's Bachelor of Science, Cybersecurity and Information Assurance program on June 1!
I just wanted to introduce myself and also ask for any insight or experience you might want to share.
Background: I am someone in their late 40s making a pretty hard left, career-wise. I have spent the last 10 years as a professor and director of a university's journalism capstone program.
While I admittedly bring little to no meaningful tech background, I am focused. I tell my students how it took me 17 years to complete my undergrad degree, I completed my grad degree in 10 months while also working full-time.
With my background as a journalist and educator, I'm extremely detailed oriented, logical, articulate, organized, evidence based. I read books on critical and analytical thinking in my own time just to refine those skills. I say this all because I think what I what I lack in IT knowledge and experience, I do have some of the soft skills which seem to be also important.
I also have the next two and a half months to dedicate to nothing but school. I rented a place so I will have no distractions. I also only teach two classes per semester, so I will continue to have significant time to devote to this in the fall.
I purchased an Alienware m15 R7 laptop to meet school and professional needs (feedback welcome, comes tomorrow!):

• LCD: 15.6" QHD (2560 x 1440) 240Hz 2ms with ComfortView Plus, NVIDIA G-SYNC and Advanced Optimus
• Memory: 32GB, 2x16GB, DDR5, 4800MHz
• Processor: Intel Core i9- 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900H (24 MB cache, 14 cores, 20 threads, up to 5.00 GHz Turbo)
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 2280
• Video Card: NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 8GB GDDR6

Q1: Is there anything I should or should not do with a new machine before I fire it up and/or connect to the internet?
Admittedly, I don't exactly know what I want to do, or what to do. I plan on utilizing all of WGU's resources, including career development (as I urge my students to, and realize I am going to need this myself).
Q2: What do now know that you wish you knew when you were getting into the field/program?
In order to both protect myself professionally (my employer has no idea I'm doing this but I just renewed a two-year contract) and also because I'm making such drastic changes, I'm also creating new online profiles and accounts (emails, social, online identities). Any relationships I need to continue I'm sharing the new info with, but really starting fresh. I had closed all my personal accounts years ago, so I have a new email, Discord, Reddit, etc. (I joined the WGU Cybersecurity Discord and subreddit.)
Q3: What are good news or other resources you might suggest for someone green in the industry?
I've also found success just listening to pods that are beyond my knowledge or experience, but I passively pick up names, ideas, concepts, etc.
Q4: What is your work/study flow for time management and to-do lists (I use Sunsama), as well as note taking (specifically, does anyone use Roam)?
Looking forward to starting Intro to IT D322 on Monday.
Admittedly, I don't have much to offer here at this point. But maybe my questions can help others until I'm much further along and can help the next n00b.
Thanks in advance! -tg

It was an older profession, one that had maintained its presence even after the dissolution of the wealthy elite. Butlers were trained to manage a household, to keep things clean and organized by efficiently delegating tasks to workers, to make life as easy for their employers as possible.
There had been a certain degree of prestige attached to the title, even though they were effectively well-trained household managers- both in terms of working to keep things neat and tidy, as well as ensuring everyone was doing their job correctly.
In the past, anyone with the money could train to become one, approximately 15,500 Euros before the Galactic Standard Credit was adopted, albeit this was on the higher end of training.
They were expensive, certainly, but with hoarded wealth returned to circulation and inflation largely taken care of as a result of this, anyone with a decent job could afford one, or if they so chose, become one.
​
Alex had always had a special interest in butlers, a mixture of ADHD and autism contributing more toward this fixation than any of the benefits of the job. He'd always liked helping people, but with the stress of everyday indirect conversation flying over his head- passive aggressive remarks as to what needed done without explicitly stating such being a major contributor- he'd found that a more rigid system of expectations and rules benefited him more.
And as far as his family was concerned, the exact job didn't matter as long as he thrived in it.
The clicking sound of the stimulation device in his hand soothed his nerves as he anxiously awaited meeting with his potential employer. He'd had plenty of practice ignoring that lingering doubt that he'd forgotten to take his medication, even though he was absolutely certain that he had, even so, it wasn't quite enough to avoid the need to stim.
He took a silent, deep breath, fully aware of the sensation of his lungs filling up, the formal vest only slightly constricting against his chest- a pleasant sensation, a gentle pressure- and he exhaled equally silently.
The clicking was subtle enough that most Humans could barely hear it, Alex's hearing wasn't any better than the average Human, it was just more sensitive to specific sounds. He liked the soft clicking.
A knock sounded against the hardwood door, the clicking stopped, the device stowed away surreptitiously as Alex put on his Normal Face.
Meeting with a client was among the most important steps for hiring, it was just like a job interview- and he'd suffered through plenty of those. Stand up, approach the door, open it while-
"Please come in." Alex spoke. He needed to present as good an impression as possible, demonstrate that he was more than capable of doing the job. "May I get you some refreshment, sir?"
Rohirr worked in the government- not the Hedron, everyone knew that could either be the best or worst thing to happen to a political career- but as a local politician in the American state of Oregon, the mayor of Salem.
He'd immigrated to Earth after the Human-Caniti War, having made planetfall and having the best time of his life while his life was on the line, even when he'd been taken as a prisoner of war. The fact that the Humans didn't even bat an eye at his running for mayor didn't even shock him, their species had each other's respect.
After all, the enemy you cannot kill is your best friend.
He regarded the Human in formal business attire with great scrutiny, he could immediately tell the Human was putting up a guarded front, his expression was too stoic, the delivery of his spoken words sounding more like rote memorization than anything natural.
This presented a challenge.
"Tea, and one of those nice little pastries. The one with cucumber." Rohirr rumbled. He was easily twice the height of the Human, some small part of him- probably the part that reared its head only now that his pups were recently born- wanted to pick the Human up by his scruff and sit him on the couch.
The fact that Humans didn't have a scruff didn't occur to him until he was sat down, the Human already in the process of pouring him a cup of tea, the pastries already laid out on a plate.
Efficient, he hadn't even noticed the Human getting everything set up for him.
The Human set the tea pot on a plate designed to prevent heat from leaching into the table and damaging the finish. "Please enjoy, sir. Is there anything else you require before we begin?"
Anything else, huh? What was it the Humans liked to do? "A breeze would be nice." He remarked, trying not to think too hard on if that phrase was too non-specific. The way the Human's expression shifted ever so slightly intrigued Rohirr, there was a moment of silence.
"Of course, sir." He replied, walking over to the window and opening it. A breeze blew in, bringing with it the cool air of a late spring day. The Human looked at Rohirr. "Anything else, sir?"
Rohirr shook his head, and the Human sat down across from him.
Canicians had always appreciated Human military gear for its practical defense, it had stymied the worst of their bites and claws, and had held up surprisingly well to their ballistics and energy-based weaponry. Human business suits were a close second.
The uniform design and the fact that they could be tailored exactly to the wearer's proportions made it moderately popular among more politically-minded Canicians. Plus, the sight of them being torn to shreds after a headed debate was alluring in its own right, but their relatively expensive nature also meant that needlessly fighting in them became too expensive.
They usually wore them both for the style, and because it 'humanized' them enough.
Humans, of course, wore them better. They didn't need to be careful, or risk ripping them to shreds, and there was something to be said about the professionalism of Humans wearing one.
It was why the Human intrigued him, because it was clear that professionalism was an ongoing effort.
The Human breathed in, it was silent, only noticeable by the notable swelling of his chest. Nervousness?
The Human began with thanking Rohirr for his time. "As you are a busy man, I will be brief-"
"Take as long as you need." Rohirr interrupted. "I am here to hire someone to help maintain my den, keep my pups in line, and deal with the stuff that's too annoying to deal with myself." Blunt, honest, not something Humans often appreciated, but considering that brief pause when he used passive language, it was worth trying.
"Of course, sir." Came the immediate response, most Humans were put-off by his brusque nature, even though it was that brevity that won him the election. This one responded well, even seemed relieved. "I am fully trained to manage your household. I am qualified to interview and hire any staff you may need within a set budget, at your discretion, and have the skills necessary to establish routines, schedules, staff hierarchy, and setting the standards that will ensure your comfortable and uninterrupted lifestyle."
He was back to the rote memorization, a script read and re-read countless times. As the Human listed off the qualifications he had- which included, but was not limited to establishing menus, coordinating cooking, cleaning, clothing care and maintenance- Rohirr realized that he'd completely forgotten to ask their name.
"Do you have any questions, sir?" The Human asked.
"Just one, I neglected to ask your name."
The way the Human's face paled indicated to Rohirr that he had made an enormous gaffe, he was about to apologize when the Human began apologizing. "I am terribly sorry, sir. In my haste to ensure your comfort, I forgot to introduce myself and ask your name."
There was panic, the scent of stress hormones, fear.
"The fault is mine." Rohirr replied. "I was more focused on figuring out how to speak with you that I had, likewise, completely forgotten to ask."
The relief on the Human's face was palpable, he simply nodded and said, "My name is Alex Knox, sir. May I ask your name?"
"Rohirr." The Canician answered in kind. He held his hand out and the Human shook.
Alex was just coming down from a near panic attack, the reassurance of his potential client had gone a long way to help him normalize. He didn't like handshakes, the way he could feel the texture of another person's fingerprints always left him feeling gross afterwards. While white gloves weren't strictly part of the uniform, he preferred wearing them because they offered a layer of separation.
That, and they were just the right level of snug.
"Are there any other questions, sir?" He asked.
Rohirr nodded. "Yes. Do you have any chronic illnesses or similar that I need to be aware of?"
It was the question Alex dreaded, but he didn't lie. "I have autism and ADHD, sir. However, I am on medication that allows me to manage the symptoms of the latter, and my training more than makes up for my disability."
Rohirr hadn't anticipated the waves of fear-scent that emanated from the- from Alex. That paternal instinct urged him to take hold of the Human, curl up with him, and growl at anyone who dared threaten him. Shaking off the thought, he simply replied, "Is that all?"
Alex nodded. "Yes, sir."
"As I understand it, your condition comes with some difficulty in understanding indirect communcation, such as passively remarking what you want, instead of direct communication?"
"Indeed, sir."
Rohirr nodded. "Then there should be no problem. I prefer direct communication, and can provide any necessary accommodations you need for your- what was that word, again?"
"Disability, sir."
Rohirr snarled at the word. "As though you were any less!" He barked. "When can I expect you to start?"
"When do you want me to start?" Rohirr smiled at this question.
"Today, if at all possible. By chance, are you willing to work in-home?"
Alex smiled at the question, it simplified things. "Absolutely, sir."
Rohirr stood, as did Alex, and they shook hands once more. Both felt confident this was the start of a wonderful arrangement. Though, he did have one more, more selfish request. "Do you mind wearing the uniform, even on rest days? I think it looks good on you."
Alex could hardly contain his glee at the request.
​
Out-and-out mansions weren't often built, since more often than not, they had existed primarily as a symbol of wealth and status. That didn't stop people from trying.
Rohirr wasn't one of those people- certainly he did have a large home that could be considered mansion-adjacent- but that was primarily because Canician culture dictated that if you are in a position to accept guests into your home, that you ensure they have a place to rest. His home was accessible to the public, and it was made very clear that this was a cultural thing, and that him keeping his constituents out was a massive faux pas in his society. He also made it very clear that in his society, it was also understood he would be expected to deal with disrespect with extreme violence.
He'd hold back, of course, and he'd pay for their medical bills up to a certain Credit amount, but beyond that, he gave as many shits as he took- which was to say, none.
Alex marveled at the size of the place- while it wasn't like the buildings he'd visited and trained in, it was certainly more than he anticipated. Even though he knew the place was open to the public, he was moderately surprised that nobody who didn't live there was inside.
"There are three floors." Rohirr explained. "The first floor is what I refer to as the visitation floor. It is understood this is a public space with rules. It is also understood that any staff I hire to maintain this space are not to be disrespected, and that they are free to defend themselves as necessary. I will not fire someone for telling a rude asshole to shut up."
The first floor consisted of three sitting rooms, a room with publicly available snacks and drinks- including a keurig- a small library, and three empty rooms which seemed to be multipurpose. All of the rooms had what could be described as a minimum of decoration, things that certainly made the rooms seem less empty, but nothing of particular value or note.
"The upstairs is soundproofed, and requires a personal ID to enter. I will register your ID to our security systems and how you how to operate it in the event you feel more staff is necessary. Any questions?"
"Yes, sir." Alex replied. "You mentioned other staff?"
"Indeed. A gardener, a janitor, and security. The former two will not need to be managed by you, they are locals in need of a job due to... unfortunate circumstances." Rohirr cleared his throat before taking his ID out and inserting it into a scanner. The wall slid open, revealing an elevator. They both got in. "The latter is my brother, Grauf. Our tribe is such that family protects one another, he is aware you are here, that I have hired you, and that you are thus allowed to be present."
Alex nodded. "Understood, sir." He replied. "Will I be expected to interact with the public in any capacity?"
Rohirr shook his head. "No. In fact, the less you interact with them while on-duty, the better. If I ever have an event or such that I ask if you are willing to assist with, you are within your rights to refuse, and are not contractually obligated to."
Alex appreciated that Rohirr explicitly pointed this out, it gave him a better sense that his employer cared that he was comfortable with his job.
They stepped out onto the second floor, which was visibly different from the first floor. As Rohirr walked Alex around, he observed the different rooms.
First and foremost, there were five bedrooms, one of which was larger, the others which were somewhat smaller and had VariaBed adjustable beds- the kind that could be changed between single beds to bunk beds.
"These are rooms meant for staff." Rohirr explained. "This larger room is yours, a small perk of your position. While I would prefer staff that is willing to work in-home, I also recognize this is not always feasible or desirable. These rooms will always be available for rest, I do not want any of my staff overworked."
The rest of the rooms consisted of a kitchen, a laundry room, an elevator connected to both side entrance, the second floor, and the third floor. "The staff elevator." Rohirr remarked, as well as two bathrooms, an entertainment room, a sitting room, and a few other rooms for tailoring, spare uniforms- autofit, Alex noticed with a little distaste- a pantry, and an empty room.
"I honestly have no idea what to do with this room, you are free to use it as you see fit." Rohirr finished.
The main difference between this floor and the prior one was that this had what Alex could only describe as Canician art hanging on the walls. "May I ask as to the decorations, sir?" He asked.
"My mate likes to carve." Rohirr replied. "She supplements our income through selling her works. There is spiritual meaning attached to them, wards against evil, masks meant to invoke strength and stamina, totems meant to grant clarity of mind." Rohirr pointed at a door beside the elevator. "Stairs, in case of emergency. And in the event that the stairs are not an option-" He slid open a panel on the wall. "This chute provides an even faster exit. It is large enough to accommodate me, and it is not a pleasant descent."
"Understood, sir." Alex replied. "And the third floor?"
Rohirr nodded. They went up the elevator to the third floor. The second floor was pleasant and had character, this was very clearly meant to evoke Canician culture. While the structure was still standard, the decorations were subtly different.
"Also of spiritual significance." Rohirr stated, as though reading Alex's mind. These totems have been in my family for generations, they are literally irreplaceable. It is understood they will not remain whole forever, it is understood that they will one day break, and to my people, this is a sign that our ancestors have finally departed, and no longer need to protect us."
"I will ensure they are treated with the respect they deserve, sir." Alex replied solemnly.
The rest of the floor consisted of no less than eight bedrooms. One which was very clearly the master bedroom, and another one that also served as the security room. A heavily-scarred Canician with several mechanical limbs regarded them briefly.
"Brother." He spoke, his voice clearly synthetic.
"Grauf." Rohirr replied. "This is Alex, he is my new hire. Alex, this is my brother."
Alex remembered hearing that Canicians appreciated compliments regarding their strength, but was uncertain on how to approach that. He simply gave Grauf a respectful bow. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, sir." He stated. He chose his next words carefully. "I look forward to hearing any tales you wish to share about your past victories."
Grauf raised the only organic eyebrow remaining, then let out a soft growl. "Your Human is trying too hard."
"Better to try too hard than to be insulting." Rohirr remarked. "Don't forget to peel yourself off the screens once in a while, you're crippled, not decrepit."
Grauf laughed, it was a wet, painful-sounding wheeze that made Alex wince. "We both know I'll die before I let myself be useless." He said. "Enter, Human, you'll need to be registered into the system."
Alex approached, his ID in hand, which Grauf snatched without warning. He slid the ID into a slot, tapped a few keys, then pulled it out. "Congratulations, Human. You have access to one of the most secure buildings on this planet, my brother is expecting little from you, I expect your best."
"I will endeavor to meet your expectations, sir." Alex replied, taking his ID back.
"None of this 'sir' kraaf! If you insist on calling me by a title, you will refer to me as 'Hurr', Grauf, or- if you want to submit to me- Chief."
"Understood, Hurr." Alex replied.
Grauf nodded approvingly. "Come back to me when you've finished orientation, I should have your permissions set, and you can help me set up security clearances and hierarchies."
Alex didn't miss the appreciative glance-over from Grauf.
Beyond the rooms was a play-room, within which were three Canician pups and an older female one- Rohirr was quick to identify her as Carraf, as well as his two sons and daughter, Bif, Rouf, and Harra.
"It is my hope that you work here long enough that you at least see them to their naming ceremony." Rohirr replied.
"I am not familiar with this 'naming ceremony', sir." Alex replied.
"When they are of age, they choose their own names. It is not our place to say who they are, that is what they shall discover."
They left the pups and Carraf alone for the time being- there would be plenty of time for proper introductions later, when she wasn't focused on wrangling them. As the tour reached its end, Rohirr and Alex stepped out onto a balcony.
"Is this adequate?" Rohirr asked.
"I do not know what you mean, sir." Alex replied.
"I mean what I ask. I am not like the rich men of your people from long ago, there is no such thing as 'pedigree' among my people." Rohirr met Alex's eyes. "Is it enough?"
Alex shook his head. "That implies there is some metric by which worth is judged, sir." He replied. "If I may be so bold, I wish to share with you why I do this job."
Rohirr nodded. Alex looked outward toward the city of Salem, this had been his home for many years, its familiarity was comforting. "It has always been my dream to help others, and this is the best way I may do so. Yes, I am trained by one of the oldest butlering schools on the planet, yes, I have a certificate that indicates such- one that I will proudly hang in the room you have set aside for me. It cost me more money than I truly had, and I can tell you now, it is most certainly more than adequate."
Rohirr nodded once more. "It occurs to me that I've never discussed strict hours."
"With respect, sir, you may consider me as always available." Alex replied. "For as long as your family will have me, at least, for as long as you are able to pay my wages, I will work for you. After all, I am doing what I have always wanted."
Rohirr smiled. "Do not be surprised if we end up adopting you, then you'll never get away."
They both laughed. Alex did not stand idly by for long, nor did Rohirr. At the latter's insistence, they both worked together to ensure everyone's long-term comfort.

After hundreds of hours put into PoE and Last Epoch's minion classes, I'm seeing an inherent flaw in the Necromancer design. The skill tree offers little to enhance or make your army interesting. Yes, there's a few basic "increase pet health and damage" nodes, but that's basically it.
If you've played other ARPGs, you'll see they offer an avenue of skills and talents that effectively turn your army into a killing machine, at the cost of your own heroes power.... which is the whole point of a minion commanding class.
However, it seems that the skill tree doesn't do this at all. Your minions are effectively a mediocre passive that serves as a mere "top up" to support and damage, rather than being the bread and butter of it.
And yes, I understand there are legendaries/glyphs that help your minions, but those should work in conjunction with your skills to create the minion power fantasy, in the same way other classes use their legendaries and skills.
From what I'm seeing here, there's no effective way to turn your army into a killing machine. Your Necromancer is basically just another Sorceress as the bulk of your damage will always come from your hero.
I love the Necromancer, but man, right off the hop, it's not effective summoning class compared to other games.

So yeah, second part. I forgot to say the page count last time of this chapter last time, so I'll say it now. Chapter four is about fifty pages long, so it fits the bill when it comes to these things. Not much else to say, so enjoy.
​
​
* * *
Jacob pondered.
On what exactly? Oh fine, I’ll tell you.
Jacob had just received what was, hopefully, a relatively unfiltered version of the recent events and situation on the planet. After about an hour of explanation, A had finished on the arrival of the disassembly drones, and the subsequent widespread assault on the worker drones. When Jacob had asked for the specific story of A’s squad, A had skirted around it, only lightly touching upon the subject. It was slightly suspicious, but Jacob didn’t plan on doing anything about it.
However, if it was the truth, it only raised more questions than answers. The fact that a company was willing to exterminate the entirety of what was probably a massive investment was just baffling. Jacob could only come up with two explanations, one of which was rather worrying to think about. The first was that of changing times; perhaps the company was so rich, and technology so advanced, that the worker drones could be replaced with the ease of buying another shipload of tissues. If you threw away an entire box of tissues, it would be annoying to say the least, but it wouldn’t cost a lot to just get another one.
But, it just didn’t make sense to Jacob that that would be the case. The United States military in the time of Jacob had heaps, thousands of missiles, and could afford to replace them as they were used. But if they all disappeared at once? It would take lots of time, money, and effort to replace each and every single last one of the lost payloads, and not to mention the logistical nightmare it would be.
So, that led Jacob to his other solution, one that insinuated a scenario far more confusing and sinister. If the company decided to just annihilate every worker drone, which is a very radical and illogical decision by a galaxy-spanning megacorporation, then it would line up with certain other decisions made by other people in the past.
During the Second World War, the U.S. government was fearful of a potential Japanese invasion. They believed that, if they did land boots on American soil, that the Japanese-Americans would rise up, taking the side of the invaders. And so, Roosevelt made the Executive Order 9066, ordering over one hundred and twenty thousand Japanese-Americans to be interned in concentration camps, where they would remain until near the end of the war.
This was an apt example for how even the most level-headed of individuals could make bad decisions under the influence of fear. If Jacob assumed that the same was true for this day and age, then perhaps the administration at the company had sent machines to kill the entire worker drone populace due some or maybe even all of them being much more dangerous than what was being let on. It was a bit far-fetched, but was the one of the only viable solutions at the moment, aside from his theory that nothing was real and they were all figments of the imagination of a being so complex they were nothing but fiction to it, but the chances of that were little to none.
Right?
Jacob’s pondering was interrupted by someone waving their hand in front of his face.
“Ugh, hello?” A snapped his fingers twice. “You there?”
Jacob blinked, refocusing on his present company. “Uh yeah, just processing.”
A scoffed. “Processing what? I thought humans were superior or something?”
Jacob smacked A’s hand out of his face. “Me too.”
A raised an LED eyebrow.
“Doesn’t matter.” Jacob waved hand in a dismissive way. “What now?”
“I dunno. That's all I had.” A shrugged.
“Nothing else you’re hiding?” Jacob questioned.
“No. There isn’t.” A glared at Jacob. “Now drop it.”
Jacob held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, jeez man, calm down. I just don’t wanna be bored for however long I’m stuck here.”
“Yeah well, that's not really my problem.” A stated.
Jacob didn’t reply, only sighing, before standing and getting up out of his seat.
A startled. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Out.” Jacob simply replied.
“Why?” A inquired.
Jacob shrugged. “Bored.”
A got to his feet as well. “Fine then. I guess I’m going as well.”
“You’re coming with?” Jacob asked incredulously.
“Yeah. I can’t have you running off and getting yourself killed.” A reasoned.
“They kept saying that too.” Jacob grumbled.
“Who said that?” A tilted his head.
“K and X.” Jacob answered. “Also, why don’t y’all have normal names? Why just letters?”
“I dunno.” A non-committedly replied.
“Huh.” Jacob took that as a cue to leave, turning to the ladder.
A followed closely behind, waiting until Jacob had gone through the small exit to ascend himself.
Jacob didn’t bother to use the ladder on the way down, buckling his knees and dropping the last few feet, hearing the snow crunch beneath him. He had been prepared to absorb the impact, but it seemed like whatever advanced mechanics his suit possessed had done the job all by itself, which was pretty nice. He made a mental note to test out the capabilities later on, just to get a general sense of the limits and what would be a danger to him.
Jacob heard a similar crunching noise behind him, causing him to look backwards, seeing A just awkwardly standing there.
“Just gonna follow me? Really?” Jacob was slightly annoyed.
“Yeah. I’ve gotta keep you safe until someone else takes you off my hands, or else I’ll-” A cut himself off.
Jacob took note of that, inferring what he might have been about to say. It only served to confirm his notion that he was sort of a VIP on the planet. He was to be protected at all costs, which was pretty nice for Jacob.
“So, you gonna do anything?” A asked.
* * *
The sound of snow crunching filled the empty room as the pair walked into it.
“Can we go back already?” X complained.
“No, and be quiet.” K scolded him. “It’s too echoey in this room, it’s annoying.”
X scoffed. “Pff, it’s fine. Nobody’s around for miles, we’re all good. Now when can we go back?”
K rolled her eyes. “We can go back when we find something, You heard what he said.”
“What who said?” X inquired.
“You idiot, our squad leader!? Our boss that we’ve spent who knows how long with!?” K cried out.
“Calm down, just messing around.” X leaned against the wall.
“Whatever, you know what A said. We can’t come back until we’ve found water.” K reminded X.
“Why do we even need it? I’m sure he’ll be fine.” X waved off the issue.
“He’ll die.” K deadpanned.
“He can walk it off.” X waved off the issue again.
“I don’t care, just get off the wall, we’ve gotta search every building.” K gestured for X to follow.
“How can we even find anything in here? Everywhere else we’ve checked has been empty.” X took his place next to K.
“You never know, now get to it.” K kicked over a rock, exposing a small marble.
X trotted over to a dented metal counter on one side of the room, peering underneath it.
“Nothing here, this is useless.” X whined.
“Shut up.” K called out.
X surprisingly obliged, kneeling down and searching the small cabinets that were connected to the counter. After finding nothing but a small skeleton huddled inside one of them, X sighed heavily, before making his way over to a large metal box. It might’ve been taller than him if it wasn’t tipped over on its side, with an assortment of power cords snaking out from an outlet on the back of it. Seeing a small handle on the front, X tugged on it, the slight rust giving way to superior strength.
However, X’s eyes went wide with shock, which changed to glee.
“Hey, look what I’ve found!” X called out to K.
K’s head whipped up, staring at the prize that X was brandishing. “You found- what is that?”
If the two had any idea what warm food was, they would’ve recognized the lumpy frozen good that X had in his hands as a perfectly preserved rotisserie chicken. If they had any sort of reheating device, and if they had proper taste buds, they might have been able to enjoy the sweet experience of a Thanksgiving dinner. However, they were ignorant robots who were about as smart as a middle schooler, so the only reaction that they, or at least one of them had, was confusion.
“I dunno, but it says chicken on the side!” X proudly exclaimed.
“What’s chicken?” K questioned.
“I’m . . . not sure . . . but I’m pretty sure it's food.” X’s LED eyebrows furrowed in thought.
“How do you know that?” K asked.
“Uh, I don't?” X seemed more confused than ecstatic now.
K shook her head. “Did you find anything useful?”
“Well I found this clear thing, but it only says something called ‘Dasani’ on the side.” X held up a clear plastic bottle, putting his finger in quotation marks when he said it.
“Give me that!” K dashed across the room, snatching the item out of X’s hands.
“Wha- hey!” X tried to grab at it, but K held it out of his reach.
“Back up!” K swatted X in the face, inciting a squawk of surprise.
“I found it first, give it back!” X shot back, tackling K, causing the bottle to roll across the ground.
The two began slugging at each other, scrabbling across the ground for dominance over a goddamn bottle, like a gang of the aforementioned middle schoolers. Nearly crushing the contested item multiple times, the two spent a good thirty seconds duking it out. And after K finally managed to curl into a ball around the bottle, X tried to no avail to recapture his former possession.
“You motherfu-” X was cut off by a noise from the door that led deeper into the building
The two highly professional disassembly drones shot to their feet, their gazes snapping to the origin of the sound. Standing there was a figure, about the same height as K and X, with familiar black plating and armor, kneeling down to grab a small blue marble that was on the floor. It appears as though the idiot had been trying to be sneaky to avoid capturing the attention of the killer robots, which clearly didn’t go as planned.
“Uh, hi.” The drone said after a moment of silence.
Even more silence.
The military drone took that as a cue to scoop up the marble, before dashing out of the room.
K and X instantly took chase, with K pocketing the small bottle for later. The military drone wasn’t quite fast, but it did make use of its head start well. The unnamed drone disappeared behind the corner, with the pair of disassembly drones right on his heels. However, when K turned around the edge, a bullet tore through the air, finding its home in her head. Completely unprepared, she fell to the ground.
X, contrary to what some might do, didn’t stop to assist her, instead just simply vaulting over her body, speeding onward. He was rapidly closing the distance between him and the military drone, when his prey suddenly whipped around with a pistol in its hand. X, unlike his comrade, was prepared for this inevitability, turning to the side and out of the path of the trio of bullets as they flew by him. X followed up on this by diving down onto the hapless drone, trying to skewer it on gleaming metal claws.
The drone didn’t have a chance to fight, but unknown to X, he did have time to press the small panic button on its jawline, or where the jawline would be if it was a human. If anyone on this planet was familiar with standard police or even military practice, they would recognize the small button as the useful yet annoying panic button.
For a bit of context, the panic button is usually represented as a small and easy-to-access device that, when activated, sends out an emergency distress signal that would notify the proper authorities of the panic button’s location and a dire situation. The panic button is common in the military, police personnel, elderly homes, schools, corporate buildings, apartment buildings, and basically everywhere else that isn’t a ghetto.
The drone, however, proved to be much smarter than his predecessors, much to the dismay of X. It dove to the side, dropping down and through a weakened rusty grate. As X’s claws scraped against the wall, the fleeing drone tossed a metal panel that was blocking the way out to his side, before dashing through the door. X jumped down to the lower floor, before continuing his chase.
A flurry of bullets ripped towards him, but X brought his arm up, letting his forearm absorb the projectiles that hit, and most missed. The drone ran down a comically long flight of stairs, taking three steps at a time. The stairs continued downward, eventually opening up to a basement with a gaping hole in the wall, which led straight into darkness. The drone nearly fell into the hole from the momentum of jumping down the stairs. But, it just managed to skid to a stop at the edge.
X landed at the foot of the stairs, crouching to absorb the impact. X’s gaze focused on the drone that was pointing the pistol at X, sights drawing a solid bead on his head. However, when it pulled the trigger, it was only met with a slight clicking sound. The drone gaze jerked down to the pistol, then straight back up to X, who was now diving towards it, claws outstretched.
The drone jumped backwards, losing his balance. Its foot slipped off the edge, and while the sudden space between it and X saved its life for the time being, it did have to contend with gravity, which was now pulling on the drone by a considerable amount.
X watched as the drone tumbled down the pit, hitting the sides. However, the sides of the pit were both sloped and slick with a thin sheet of ice, causing the drone to slide down to the bottom. The drone slammed against a large rusty metal pipe, which was a solid indicator of the pit’s identity as a sewer.
The drone scrambled to its feet, caving the skull in of a skeleton that appeared to have been a former inspector when one took into account the corpse’s clipboard and tattered clothes. X slammed down onto the large pipe, causing it to resonate like a gong. The drone snatched up a small length of rusty metal rebar that had impaled itself on the ground, the edge of the steel surprisingly sharp. The drone adopted a fighting stance, pointing the business end towards X.
The robotic predator didn’t care, however, just simply stabbing his prey with his own pointy stick, the sharp end of his nanite acid tail. The sharp tool stuck itself in the drone’s shoulder, causing it to drop the bar and curse. X took the opportunity to grip the drone by the head, while digging the claws of his other hand in its chest. X then looked into the opaque black visor of the military drone, before pulling in two opposite directions.
The effects were made known quickly, with the head of the military drone migrating away from its home connected to the body. Oil splashed down onto X, who took the opportunity to feed. X dropped the head, letting it hit the ground with a clang, dropping the body as well.
X stood over the fallen corpse, claws gleaming with oil. K landed next to him, retracting her wings.
“So you got it?” K asked.
“No I didn’t, he got away. This body right here is just a random pigeon, and you’re just hallucinating.” X replied sarcastically. “Also, how the hell did you get here so fast?”
K rolled her eyes. “Oh, be quiet. I’m just making sure, because knowing you, you would probably let him go for the funny.” She ignored his latter question.
“Well now that you mention it . . .” X looked sorrowfully at the body.
K punched him in the arm. “Whatever, we gotta go. I seriously doubt that he was alone-”
She was cut off yet again by a loud crash that originated from the hole up on the wall. The duo whipped around, only to see several guns pointed straight at them.
“Sup.” X nodded at the intruders.
* * *
The sound of conversation could be audibly heard from the lit tent.
The tent had been designated as the de facto headquarters for the former facility personnel, with a smaller offshoot serving as a meeting room for the leadership. The offshoot tent in question was currently being used for its purpose, with an emergency meeting being called. Not because of the discovery of a dead body, but for a different matter entirely.
“Can anyone at least tell me how this happened?” The Lead Engineer leaned on the table.
One of the data officers stepped forward. “We believe that when we were evacuating the facility, an error occurred that declassified the file.” They answered.
“An error did this.” The General wasn’t convinced.
“Well, yes. The computers had been degrading for a while now, and we had noticed that several of our autonomous programs were misbehaving, or just outright not working at all.” The data officer replied.
“And we did nothing about this?” The General glared at the trio of data officers that had joined them.
“We actually were doing all we could, but we didn’t have the materials to make a complete fix.” The Lead Engineer interjected.
“Why didn’t you tell me then!?” The General exclaimed.
“I did. You probably just forgot again.” The Lead Engineer suggested.
“What? I have the best memory here.” The General puffed out his chest proudly.
“Alright then, what were we just talking about?” The Lead Engineer inquired.
The General frowned. “We were talking?”
The Lead Engineer facepalmed. “Goddamn idiot.”
One of the data officers stepped up. “Uh, sir? There is still the matter of the ones who discovered the information.”
“Oh yeah, uh, dump them off the eastern bridge.” The Lead Engineer waved off the issue.
With a simple nod, the data officers left, accompanied by a few guards as well. The Lead Engineer sat back in his chair, before steepling his fingers on the desk. He looked back and forth between the assembled leadership, before the General spoke up.
“So, are we gonna continue or what?” He crossed his arms.
“Yes, sorry.” The Lead Engineer motioned to one of his ministers. “You take the lead, Kane.”
Kane got up, walking to the front of the tent, dragging a projector on a cart with him. When he arrived, he pulled down the white screen, securing the hook on a latch on the bottom. He then adjusted the cart, facing the lens towards the screen. He then attached a laptop to the projector, pressing a few buttons and fiddling with a few switches, cursing once. Finally, the projector flickered to life, shining an image onto the screen.
Kane cleared his throat. “Ahem, so. What you are seeing here is the first page of the document in question. As you can see here, it appears to be warning against a drone viewing whatever the contents of this file is.” Kane flicked to the next slide. “It continues to vehemently express this multiple times, not really differing in its warning at all.”
One of the military ministers, Alicia, raised her hand. “Uh, question?”
Kane paused. “What is it?”
“Its warning against drones? She asked.
“Yes, it is. I’ll explain this later on, so save your questions for the end please.” Kane looked back to the projection, skipping through the slides until he landed on the first one without a warning.
“Ah, here we go. So, as you can see here, this appears to be a logo for JCJenson-'' Kane was interrupted by a faint, “In Spaaaaacee!” from an unknown source. “Uh, anyway, as all of you know, JCJenson was the company that owned this planet, and the one that provided the drones that the government were using in their facility, which was us.” Kane flicked to the next slide.
“Here we can see a title for a project, along with several bits of accompanying information, like locations, associates, page number, references, you get the picture.” Kane then produced a long ruler from what seemed like thin air, before pointing the end at one of the words. “Pay attention to this one here ‘AbsoSolv’ as it’ll come up several times later on.” Going to the next slide, Kane cleared his throat yet again.
“This page is more confusing, as it appears to be mentioning several unit serial numbers that don’t match up with standard format, which are mixed in with several other ones that are in different format, like this one here,” Kane pointed his stick at a random one from the line. “This one says, S-010011X01, which I believe has a main identifying letter instead of a string of numbers based on time of construction.”
“Additionally, while some of these feature the normal serial numbers that worker drones use, they have another identifier after it, separated by a dash.” Kane flipped to the next slide.
“This one is more straightforward, as it appears to be featuring a set of technical designs of a modified worker drone with the serial number and other associated information listed at the top. The notes on the side are observations on the modifications that can be seen in the designs. Some of the original worker drone parts can be seen, but a majority of the inner and outer mass seem to have been altered or replaced with a substance that is described as ‘fleshy’. You can see at the very bottom a signature of an unknown human administrator, and a notice that marks the drone for ‘disassembly’ as an addendum can be seen that marks whatever this is as a failure, and a recommendation to request more data from their source.”
Kane took a breath, before going to the next slide. “This is essentially the same as the last one, and this continues for a few slides. Nothing of note can be found in them, save for a few different serial numbers that were listed in one of the prior slides.”
Kane flicked to the next slide. “This one has two addendums, which I will say in a moment. The image is different as well, with noticeably less random mutations and more of a form taking place. This one was supposedly much more successful than the others, and while it was still marked as a failure, the first addendum said that the team working on the project should strip the data from the drone in as best a condition as they could. The second one simply noted they were naming the specific strain of code they were using to ‘Absolute Solver’. The addendum does not mention any reason or motive behind the name, only noting the fact that their shareholders would be pleased.”
“The next one is the first apparent success in the line of experiments that JCJenson seemed to be doing. A single growth can be seen protruding from the back of the spinal transmitter, and several other growths have sprouted inside. However, it is noted that the drone survived the process, and remained somewhat coherent for a period of time afterwards, which seems to be an outlier when considering the others. There isn’t an addendum on this one, only a request from the team for more extensive data from their source to compare to this experiment.”
“This trend continues for a good while, so I’ll just summarize the important bits for all of you.” Kane stated. “Each version continued to show more and more productive attributes and traits, as is par the standard course. Throughout the notes, requests, and addendums, whoever was typing up the document repeatedly noted some things that I will review later, such as Absolute Solver, the ‘source’, Camp 98.7, Cabin Fever Labs, and disassembly drones.”
Kane flicked to the final slide. “This is the final page, with some items to note. It appears to be a reiteration of the specifics of the agreement between the government and JCJenson, with a few additional key things. It includes the standard formalities and the usual junk that we all know, but something else as well. When mentioning the exchange of data that came from the asset-” Kane paused as the room underwent an uncomfortable shuffle in their seats. “They mention a clear correlation between this project that JCJenson is, or was, working on, and the asset. They also instructed the government contacts that any unauthorized personnel, which included government agents, were now barred from entering Camp 98.7 due to ‘hazardous environmental conditions’ and that this was nonnegotiable.”
Kane turned away from the projector, clasping his hands in front of himself. “And now to explain.”
“From what me and the team I assigned could gather, we deduced the meanings and purposes behind several items that were mentioned in this file. The first and most obvious, the ‘source’ that is mentioned. They are receiving data from this source, which seems to be essential to the development of what they were working on. Based on their words, we figured that the source is likely the asset, and yes, the same asset that we are all familiar with.” Kane paused, seemingly to let his words sink in.
“Continuing on, we began to dissect what Camp 98.7 was. It was very clearly a location of sorts, but where it was and what it was used for was more complicated. While we never arrived at a solid conclusion, we believed that the most likely avenue was that Camp 98.7 might have been an outpost of sorts, perhaps used in conjunction with these Cabin Fever Labs.”
“On the matter of the Cabin Fever Labs, we can clearly assume that research and development of this Absolute Solver was being conducted there, and perhaps Camp 98.7 was a sort of staging ground or other type of location related to the lab. We believe that the location of one or both of these sites are hidden within another file.”
“And perhaps the most intriguing and complex matter of them all, Absolute Solver. We figured that it was likely that this Absolute Solver was instrumental in whatever experiments they were doing, or even being one of the subjects of the experiments themselves. From what we gather, Absolute Solver is something, maybe a piece of alien machinery, some sort of unknown lifeform, an experimental strain of cutting-edge code, one of those things, but whatever it is, it is not something that is ‘normal’. It appears to have a unique effect on those it hosts or comes into contact with, rapidly generating new organic material, with sometimes uncontrolled effects. While the file only shows the experiments that used drones, we don’t know if any humans or other organic lifeforms were included either. Likely not, considering the legality of the situation, but it's open to discussion.”
Kane took a large breath, before continuing.
“And finally, the disassembly drones. They seem simple, but my team believed it to be heavily related to our current situation. They aren’t mentioned very often, but they appear to be a direct result of their experiments or related to one. From what we could gather, they are meant to, well, disassemble. Drones on par with military-grade ones that are capable of a variety of things, like bullet fire, rocket launching, melee combat, flight, digital warfare, and regeneration.” Kane watched as his words dawned upon his audience, expressions filling with shock.
“Yes, those drones. The disassembly drones that we read about are likely some variant of the unknown assailants that attacked the facility, and stole the asset in the process.”
The General sputtered. “B-but that would be a severe political incident! If those drones were under the command of JCJenson, and they stole GOVERNMENT property, then they would be liable for retaliation!”
Kane tried to calm the room. “Now, hold on, I’m not done-”
The Lead Engineer also appeared to be shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!?”
“You told me to wait for the meeting!” Kane exclaimed.
The room erupted into disarray.
“We need to mobilize, hunt down those damn traitors!”
“What's their last known location!?”
“Where is the nearest transmitter, send out a request for retaliatory action!”
Suddenly, a drone burst into the room, knocking over the projector cart in the process. Everyone turned to look at him, ceasing the chaos for a moment.
“Er, uh, sirs?” The drone asked.
“Yes?” The General and the Lead Engineer stood up at the same time.
“I, uh,” The drone looked back and forth between the two administrators. “Well, we received a panic signal from one of our scouts.”
The General scoffed. “Why would that be enough to warrant our intervention? He probably just tripped on a conveniently placed banana peel.”
The messenger fidgeted nervously. “Well, his partner reported moments before the signal came in that he heard gunshots.”
The administrative drones shared a collective uneasy look.
“What did you do?” The General asked slowly.
“The officers who received the signal first sent in two of the patrol squads that were nearby at the time.” The messenger answered.
The drones in assembly all either looked down in disappointment or facepalmed.
The General spoke up after a moment. “Send in a squad as fast as you can to their last known location. Only veterans, and outfit them with heavy weaponry and explosive ordnance.” The General paused, before adding an afterthought. “And give them some cutting equipment too.”
The messenger blinked in surprise. “Wait, sir, are you sure-”
“Just tell the officers already!” The General slammed his fist down onto the cheap plastic table, which formed a crack.
The messenger saluted quickly, before dashing out of the room.
The Lead Engineer took a cursory look at the assembled drones, before he sighed.
“We’re screwed.”
* * *
“Are you going back anytime soon?”
Jacob looked back at his unwanted companion.
“No.” He answered simply, before resuming his casual trot.
“We’re getting too far away from the spire, and the sun is coming up in an hour or two. I for one don’t want to get caught out.” A insisted.
“Well I don’t die from a bit of sunlight, so too bad.” Jacob stepped over a tire rim.
“I’m not sure that’s your choice.” A stated.
Jacob paused and looked backward. “Oh, so you’re bossing me around now?”
“Maybe, if you keep on making dumb decisions like this.” A stopped as well.
“Pff, I’ll be fine.” Jacob waved his hand in the air to emphasize his point.
“You won’t last ten minutes.” A dead-panned.
“Nah, I’ll speedrun this stuff, I’ll be off-planet in an hour.” Jacob proudly said.
A shook his head and sighed. “Whatever you say.”
Jacob didn’t answer.
Jacob then looked around. “Wait, where are we? I wasn’t keeping track.”
“And you said that you would- whatever, we’re like, three miles away from the base.” A replied.
“Huh, went that far?” Jacob asked.
A frowned. “Three miles isn’t that far-”
A was interrupted by a rather loud crack that resonated through the landscape.
Jacob blinked. “Uh, ok then-”
Jacob was also interrupted by a trio of cracks and bangs, sounding slightly familiar.
“Are those-” Jacob was, yet again, interrupted by even more bangs.
“-gunshots?” He finished.
“I wouldn’t worry, those idiots are probably either messing around, or they found a worker drone to kill.” A nonchalantly answered.
“Shouldn’t we go check it out though?” Jacob inquired.
“It isn’t a problem.” A said, annoyed.
“Well it would give me something to do.” Jacob insisted.
A checked the time, before looking at the horizon for signs of sunlight.
“Eh, fine. Wouldn’t hurt, I guess.” A shrugged.
“Nice.” Jacob grinned underneath his ballistic visor.
* * *
K sliced through the head of the last desperate drone, before spitting out a bullet.
“You done?” K called out to X.
“Yeah, I guess. By the way, do you still have my Dasani thing?” X looked at K hopefully.
“Yes, I do. And besides, it isn’t yours, it's for Jacob.” K answered.
“What? Why is he getting it? Why not me?” X exclaimed.
“Because it's water, idiot. An uncontaminated source, like A told us, remember?” K glared at X.
“I guess, but that's water?” X asked.
“Yes, it is. It matches the description.” K replied
“Description?” X questioned.
“Yeah, the description. You know what description means, right?” K seemed even more annoyed.
“I know what it means.” X snapped. “But how do you know what water looks like?”
K just shrugged, before turning towards the exit.
“Come on, we gotta get back soon.” She flew upwards, landing on the ledge.
X followed suit, tracing their steps back through the building. X looked back up at the rusty grate that the drone had fallen through, which he now identified as being part of a weirdly placed catwalk. Scanning the environment, X found that the only entrance to the small alcove would be the hole in the catwalk. The basement that the small room was connected to didn’t have an entrance either, only having the gaping hole in the side of the room, which likely wasn't intended. That would mean that a person would have to chop through the sewer wall to get into the basement and adjoining alcove, or jump off the catwalk. Both of those options didn’t make any sort of sense at all. In fact, the catwalk wasn’t even needed, someone could have just removed the entire basement-and-alcove plan entirely, which also removed the necessity for a catwalk. All in all, whoever designed the building was either high off of some crazy drugs, an idiot, or both.
But, none of these thoughts went through X’s head, as he was only thinking about the devastating loss of his cool plastic bottle.
K hefted herself up onto the rusty catwalk, with X following close behind. K went through the doorway, only for a rather eventful event to stop her momentarily.
A rocket screamed through the air, smacking K straight in the chest. The resulting explosion blew X backwards and K apart, with oil splashing onto the ground in the process. With a clatter, X hit the ground, slightly dazed. He looked to his left to see what looked like the arm of K, twitching slightly. X tried to get up, only to fall again, after he put his weight on a hand that wasn’t there.
X, seeing the failure of Operation: GTFU, adjusted his position so that he could get up with his other hand only, which was thankfully still there. Investigating his left arm, he could see that everything down from the elbow had been separated from himself in the blast. He didn’t have time to look for it or go get it, so he simply let the matter go.
Standing up, X stared through the smoke, before diving back down onto the ground when another rocket came streaking past him. It scratched his face, sending small sparks up, before heading down the other hallway. X pointed his own rocket launcher into the fog, before firing off a flurry of shots. He heard explosions, but wasn’t rewarded with screams or grunts of pain. Problematic, to say the least.
X took the opportunity to kick K’s assorted dismembered body parts down into the lower alcove, where she should eventually reassemble herself. She was really taking a beating recently, and she would probably be frustrated about that when X was all done, but that wasn’t his problem-
X nearly met the same fate as K when another rocket flew from the open doorway, the fog starting to clear up. X jumped up and over the RPG, letting it fly into the unexplored depths of the building. He couldn’t do this dance forever, so he made the executive decision to charge into the unknown.
* * *
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Anyway, I'll be posting the next part tomorrow, so hang on tight for the singular person that made it to the end. No need to like, this is purely for my own benefit. See ya.

An individual begins to become enlightened when their body starts to be able to feed with light, is going through physical changes, and is unable to sustain itself any longer in a normal human environment. This state is the one preceding dematerialization from this reality, and crossing towards another dimension.
Enlightenment is reached as one starts to transcend the physics of reality, becomes able to be able to bend the laws of physics, does not require food any longer, can easily use senses beyond the 5th known ones, and are able to direct change in the human society at a level that cannot be contained, suppressed or ignored.
Examples of enlightened individuals: Jesus, Buddha.
The meaning of the word, as normally used within the human society, implies wisdom and self-control (i.e. oh, look at the serene expression of this Buddhist monk, he is surely enlightened), Well, over the course of history, given the development of religious cults, the word has been used until its meaning has lost significance.
Enlightened individuals, in history, have served humanity and its best interests, not wallowed behind some screen, writing inspirational short sentences.
It would be wise, for the awakened individuals, to ...step out of nondualism and smart aphorism creationism, and to become involved in the large context of the human situation that is taking place at this moment, rather than dreaming of non-consequential loopholes, while hiding in their concrete box, and drinking from a bottle.
There is no need for empty wisdom. Please, if at least awakened you are, use something from this to...diverge the consensus towards something true and good, rather than pampering the new ego. There is need for bright minds to influence the masses, it is really within the realm of possibility to move the whole machination towards a new destination, if unity can be found.
Most of the people are really thirsty for something real and true, if we can come together, this amount of energy can shift things in a total new direction. There is a way, there is possibility, it is not too late, there is no pre-set way things should turn up, everything is left to move itself as it considers.
It is by responsibility and ethics the job of the ones growing within light, that have had the opportunity, chance and capability to grow in this world, to do their role, from their position, for others to see and follow what they themselves cannot see. And perhaps by doing so, a new way will be found, beyond politics, self-regulating, for humanity to find leadership by inner evolution means.
Is it okay if we discuss politics here? Or if we try to find solutions, just by putting our...light together, to the issues that exist globally? Because there is need and space for change, but the decisions are taken by fools, and manipulated unto the masses. Is this not a new era? Can we not play a bit, and try to do something by our own, if we know so much? This is a possibility, just as it is to...play with our own ego. Let's not play by ourselves, and try to create a united intelligent, aware, advanced, evolved, benevolent force of change, at least by....finding some solutions, ideas.
There is no need for philosophy, this is not required. We live in an era where there is too much possibility, for even one person to change so much, but we always attack each other and compete using ego, against...each other. For what? Literally, so much to do, and to think about. We even have AI help now.
Is this the best we can do? Where is the pride of humans, as bright flickering sparks of reason and exploration, within this chaotic growth that we are experiencing, and is destroying our very civilization?
We do not have to be confined within the trap of our generation, mentality, or anything else, for that matter. Not that ego, but definitely, within finding ourselves here, some...evolution was achieved, and there is some...influence that can be manifested.
I raise this challenge, let us use our best, to find the very best, for the whole planet. It does not matter, at this point, what we will do with our ideas, or how we will implement them. I also believe that if we can truly find valuable solutions, these might be adopted automatically, through the collective unconscious (see the 100 monkeys experiment). We can just first try to find solutions, establish the problems. There are so many issues to consider, and some simple, wise, deep solutions can be found, instead of burning the oil trying to express some abstract and coded insight.
Please, see how this world, its...specialists, are corrupted by personal means, usually, and end up failing to find the best. But some of us, have made it further on the scale, and even though we are not paid, or considered like that, can we not...just do it, by the principle of the natural laws?
If there is access, possibility, there is also responsibility. I consider that evolved beings have responsibility through this growth, and that this is a true power, when used with intent, for a purpose greater than ourselves. No hierarchy, just...what feels best to be considered, for us in understanding, respect, gratitude to come together, as spirits, and find solutions, without even meeting, in writing, and resolve some of these matters.
There is no game greater than the reality. Wouldn't it be truly amazing, to play it seriously, after evolving, and not get lost in self concern?
It could be interesting, at least, as an experiment? There is nothing to lose, and we are already here.
Thank you so much,
Looking forward.