Rick had expected that taking an entire tribe to Sinco would be slow. Who wouldn’t? It was a whole tiny village after all, one nearing a handful hundred.
But the Orcs, and by extension all the other maidens, had more than one surprise in store.
When the tribe had set off, they’d done so with a grand demolition. The moment everything of value had been picked up and packaged, the village was then torn to shreds by anyone willing to take part in the little destruction-derby.
Following this, the tribe would split up into hut-family units.
Every “family” would be made of one human and multiple maidens. The maiden with the highest standing within the family unit (almost always an Orc) would be in charge of carrying and protecting the human on their back. And the rest would handle the luggage and supplies that “family” unit would take with them.
And from there, they would break into a jogging pace that, to a human, would have been a dead sprint.
Rick had the distinct “honor” of being carried by Urtha since Monica’s job as the chief meant it was her job to be at the tip of the metaphorical spear. Meanwhile, Rick was left seated on a sort-of-backpack the tall Orc carried.
Kiara flew overhead with the handful of other flying maidens that’d been woken up from the boxes. Leaving Eva and Dia to carry their belongings. It left an unpleasant aftertaste in Rick’s gut.
The smirk Dia kept shooting his way as he petulantly crossed his arms and resigned himself to being glorified luggage. “I could at least be playing the drums to mark the pace or something. It’s not like we’re being subtle or quiet.”
“Humans have no place drawing attention where danger lurks,” Urtha said, the only one present that wasn’t even winded. “Less so the Father.”
“Some feral might think you are a cheesy snack.” Dia, huffing as she pushed herself, still giggled.
“The tribe is tense enough already.” The Orc shook her head. “We rarely bring this many weaklings with us.”
“One of many changes to come.” Rick held the sigh, mostly because he was holding on to the chair to keep from falling over. He didn’t want to think about it, but once they reached Sinco, things would get complicated.
They were effectively marching out, seeking to conquer a city. Whether it be through actual warfare or maneuvering, they weren’t sure just yet. They just knew that they were prepared for the former if the latter didn’t work out. The reports had come in: Sinco was not in a good place. The constant presence of highly aggressive ferals had been chipping away at their defenses.
The only hope the city held was that they would receive reinforcements from Aubria.
Rick would get there faster.
It was in these thoughts that he pondered throughout the day. The tribe traveled and rested too often to the Orc’s liking. There was much friction to be had, and the humans were guarded like the treasures the tribe considered them to be.
When night came, a singular large hut was made for the humans, and the maidens would sleep in rotations. There would be small songs and minor stories that were shared, small moments of comfort. But they were all held under the looming watchfulness of the tribe.
Because they were at their most vulnerable. One missed feral deciding to make a stand could mean a human getting hurt. Rick had to begrudgingly respect them for that. As much as he loathed being treated like some kind of porcelain doll, there was no room to question that the maidens were going the extra mile for everyone’s safety and survival.
Though they would sometimes go a bit overboard against the maidens that “slowed down the tribe”. His role mediating such disputes had become his main role throughout the following days.
One morning, as they were preparing to set out, he heard it.
It started with a scream, then a yelp, and then a rush.
By the time Rick realized what was going on, Monica was upon him. Drenched from head to toe and stinking of salt and seaweed. The massive maiden was looking at him with a smile that threatened to split her head in two.
“Rick!” She hovered over him, dripping water all over. “Come! Come!”
“Is everything alright?” He asked from the discomfort of the portable chair he was currently occupying.
“COME!” she insisted, hopping on her feet and skittishly looking back, aiming her ear in the direction she’d come from. “Quick!”
“The tribe is not heading that way.” Urtha pointed out.
Rick considered it for a second. “Are there any problems shifting course to travel nearer to the sea?”
“It is a bad idea. For many reasons.”
Her words brought nods from Eva and Dia, to which Rick could only respond with a shrug. “Ok, then we could call for a break for the day, give everyone a chance to properly unwind, and I’ll go with Monica.” He pointed over at the feline that was bouncing on her heels, just barely holding back from reaching out and yanking him into her wet embrace. “Seems like the chief is very excited about something.”
“I bet its food,” Eva said.
“Urtha?” Rick waited.
The Orc glanced over at the crowd. “We will set camp for the day. We cannot afford to lose any of the weaklings.”
That was as good as he could’ve hoped. Rick nodded and was immediately snatched by Monica’s fuzzy paw. The maiden picked him up, putting him over her shoulder and trotting through the shrubbery and trees with little regard for who might be following.
Rick got himself a face full of leaves, flinching and batting them away. “Hey, wait, the branches-”
The Sabretooth yanked him into her arms and broke into a full sprint. Dirt and rocks burst forth from where she stood as air whipped about them. Her fang-filled smile only grew. Monica’s eyes were only focused forward. Rick, meanwhile, was trying to avoid swallowing bugs. The insects that kept flying about appeared to prefer smacking against his face.
There was a moment of clarity, light, and blue.
And with a splash, he was underwater.
Rick made the mistake of gasping, swallowing sea-water, wildly flinging his arms to get himself to the surface. Monica yanked him out of the water, leaving him feeling like a half-drowned cat as he coughed and spat.
“LOOK!” she proclaimed, dropping him on the sandy beach as she hurried towards the crashing waves, kicking at them and sending sprays of foam high into the air. “Rick! BIG!” She waved wildly, rushing her way into the water, then back out.
“That’s the sea.”
“Monica see!” With wide arms, she tried to point at all of it at once.
“No, it’s a new word. Sounds similar.” He combed his hair out of his face with his hands, removing his shirt. “Sea. S-E-A. Big, wet, and salty.”
“BIG WET!” Monica was cheering and splashing, kicking her way up and down the shore, jumping into the waves and coming out a dozen meters away and then making her way back to the shore.
“It’s the sea.” He couldn’t help but smile, watching as she slapped the water with her huge paws, creating a billowing tower of water and foam to rise at least a dozen meters into the air.
He put the low-end terrifying notion of how much force was packed into that strike and kept an easy-going smile.
“It’s the ocean.” The voice called from above, Kiara leisurely drifting down and sitting next to him. “Too far away from anything or anyone. Few ships go through here.”
“So chock-full of dangerous ferals?”
“Just like everywhere else.” Her eyes weren’t on Monica. The Succubus’ gaze appeared more focused on trailing the waves as they crashed into the shore. “Likely they’ve been scared off, though. The rush must have eaten everything available near the shore.”
Rick looked at the waves, then at her. “How can you tell?”
“There’s nothing in the waves.” She pointed. “Usually there’s at least the odd Sprite.”
“Maybe Monica scared them off.”
“Doubtful.” Kiara shook her head, turning to eye him with a slight smirk. “You’re drenched. Maybe you’d want to take your clothes off?” Her gaze trailed over him in a distinctly predatory way.
“You’re hungry, huh?”
She leaned closer, hand reaching over to caress his shoulder. “Maybe a little more than that…” Gold eyes locked to his, her hand gently pushing his back into the sand, the Succubus moving in closer so that she could pin him down.
Rick grinned. “Careful with the splash.”
The momentary confusion turned to shock and horror as she was yanked away and flung into the sea. Monica stared with ample amount of self-satisfaction as the Succubus swore and sank into the waves. “No horny time.” The feline declared, looking at Rick with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
“I understand.” He raised his hands, playing the role of innocent bystander.
“Play time.”
His eyes widened with concern. Uh oh.
She reached down, pulling him up by the shirt. “Rick train swim.”
“I know how to swim.” He quickly proclaimed, grabbing hold of her claws as her arm tensed. “BUT!”
Monica hesitated, looking at the water, then at him with narrowed eyes. “But?”
“Don’t throw me like you did Kiara or I will break,” he said, quickly relaxing a little as he pointed up into the air. “Throw me a little up. Gently, into the water.”
She eyed him for a moment, and with a flick of her tail, caught a stone. “Like this?” She grasped the rock and gently tossed it into a high arch that fell into the sea with a little plop.
“Yeah, just like-AAAAAHHHH!!!”
He was flying, body spinning in the air as gravity quickly lay claim. Rick did the only thing he could think of, curling into a ball, drawing breath, and plunge. He was underwater in the next instant, bubbles and light, with the sandy bottom still within sight.
It was down there that he spotted Kiara looking up at him with a smirk, a bubble wrapping her head. The conspicuously naked Succubus used her wings to swim up at him, catching him in her grasp and pulling him down.
Rick clutched his mouth, trying to keep his breath.
Kiara’s amusement was apparent as she held him by the shirt, looking at him with a mischievous twinkle. The iron grip remained, and he could see what her plan was, so he leaned into her, breaking the surface of the bubble with his face.
The breath was cut short with the kiss.
Then she shoved him away, waving off and winking as she swam further away from the shore. The speed she was moving with clearly was one not meant for him to follow, so Rick didn’t, going up to the surface.
Monica was waiting for him, excitedly grinning from ear to ear.
“Again!” he declared the moment he stepped on the sand. “But this time not from the shirt or it might rip.”
By the time others were reaching the beach, the duo had figured out a way to make the launch procedure safer… ish. Mostly in that the victim of choice would stand on Monica’s palm and curl into a cannonball, so that she could then throw.
And the maiden had quite the throwing arm.
The couple of Goblins that showed up excitedly joined in. Then came the Orcs, Mousegirls, and Doggirls, and by the time Urtha had shown her face, the various tribe members had a line of eager volunteers to be thrown into the sea. While the Orcs were competing with one another to see who could get their cargo the furthest from the shore.
Dia caught sight of the glare before Rick could even speak up. “I’ve set up a rotation of guards with the ones keeping watch over the tribe,” the healer proclaimed. “And the water maidens are working as lookouts.”
“Do you think that would placate me?”
“Do you want to play in the launch games?” Rick asked, giving Dia a warning look. “I bet you’d give Monica a run for her money.”
“She is stronger.” Urtha spoke after just a moment of observation, shaking her head. “I would need to wait for her to tire.”
He looked at the Orc as she remained near them, but didn’t sit. He could almost taste the tension within her, that knot of uncertainty. “Would you like to build a sand castle, then?”
“A castle of sand?”
“Exactly that.” Rick sat up. “Just wet sand and more sand, and make a castle with it.”
Urtha’s thick brows furrowed. “That… sounds childish.”
He shrugged. “Sand is fragile and crumbles easily if mishandled. Consider it a test of skill.” A sly smile followed. “Or are you scared a little human will be better at it than you?”
With a scoff, she stomped her foot once. “Show me.”
“I’ll join in!” Dia said. “It’s been a while since I’ve played mud-walls.”
“The what now?”
“It’s a game we healers played when little helped give us finer control over our power.” She crouched down, grabbing a handful of wet sand and proceeding to carefully lay it down in the shape of a very thin tube. A tube no thicker than a straw, and tall enough to reach her knee. “The trick is in pushing the water away at the right time.”
Rick and Urtha shared a worried glance.
Two hours later, things had escalated… a little.
It turned out that the Orc’s ability to make wood nearly as tough as steel could be applied to sand to just enough of a degree that Urtha had made a box tower about two meters on the side and five tall. Rick, working with a knife, carved out details on the tower.
Mostly windows and bricks.
Dia, on the other hand, had built a miniature replica of the fortified city of Balet. Devoid of any details, the city was a configuration of boxes roughly knee height.
It was when some maidens that had tired of the Monica-Launcher™ had gathered to watch that things escalated. With Mousegirls quickly getting recruited by Dia so that they could turn the sand boxes into detailed houses, and Urtha recruiting other Orcs so that they could put together a second tower.
Somewhere along the way, Sheel had shown up to set up an impromptu grill service.
Rick got his fill as he watched the competition unfold, recovering his energy and feeling exhausted in a good way. He caught sight of Kiara emerging from the sea, sans clothes. The Succubus took one look at the gathering, and eventually locked on to him.
The alluring blue-haired Succubus shifted her walk, tucking away tiredness and presenting only assuredness and grace. Her ample hips swayed with a mesmerizing rhythm, tail punctuating every step with a flick. The maiden made a show of pushing her sky-blue hair over her shoulder, presenting her bare chest for him to drink in.
There was a twinkle of enjoyment in her golden eyes when his gaze locked on to her body. A sly smile played on her lips, seductive and coy.
As she reached him, the succubus knelt down and whispered in his ear, her voice soft and alluring. “Is this spot taken?”
Rick felt his throat dry, and he coughed a little. “Sure.”
Kiara grinned wider, taking his lap, tail reaching under his shirt to caress his chest. “It is very comfortable.” She punctuated her words by grinding against herself against his crotch a little. “You seem thrilled to see me.”
He wrapped his hands around her midriff, pulling her against his chest, ignoring the slight discomfort of her wings. “Be warned that Monica is looking our way,” he whispered. “Engage and you will get launched. She’s gotten great at it.”
The tail twitched. “Noted.” Her tone was begrudging. “I meant to ask, are you familiar with… this? The sea? The ocean? The depths?”
“I’ve been on my fair share of boats, and went diving in a reef once.” He admitted freely. “And I’ve flown over the clouds in one of the most boring technological marvel my world built.” A little chuckle followed. “But I think you were meaning to lead this somewhere else?”
Kiara shifted, staring over her shoulder for a moment. “I’d like to hear more about your world sometime.” Her voice held an edge of hesitation to it, and Rick had the distinct impression she was trying to hold something back. “But yes, I was meaning to lead the conversation to this.”
The tone was gone; the look was gone, replaced by smug satisfaction as she held up a blue gemstone. The object was the size of a pearl and a deep, glimmering blue.
“An impure elemental stone.” The Succubus declared. “Take it.”
Rick obliged, lifting it to get a better look. Light wavered and refracted within the sphere, adding a shimmer that made it look as if there was a tiny sea contained within. Twisting and shifting the stone did not make the illusion of change, making the little sphere appear like a looking-glass of some sort.
The refracted light swayed and shifted against his palm like an aurora.
“It’s… this is really impressive.” He declared after a moment, glancing back at her.
“I stumbled onto this while looking for something else. It has some minor value, but is mostly useless since it has a very low purity.” She shrugged her lithe shoulders, trailing his jaw with her sharp nail. “Consider it compensation.”
He frowned a little. “Compensation for what?”
She shrugged, beating her wings once and hopping on to her feet. “I will go get myself a change of clothes and a snack.” She turned to leave. “You’re more than welcome to join.”
Rick could only chuckle. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m exhausted right now.”
“Have it your way.” The maiden vanished into the thicket, sauntering off to the tribe. “If you’ve got nothing better to do, pay some attention to the little leech. Wouldn’t want her to feel neglected, now would we?”
Where had that come from? Rick watched her go, taking a moment to stand up and check that the little get-together was going nowhere. From there, he turned his focus inwards and sought the bond to Eva. It was tougher than he’d expected, especially with the noise from all the other bonds trying to drown out everything.
He found her sitting on a rock, at the very edge of the sandy shore, staring off at the setting sun. The maiden had her knees tucked against her chest, body covered under her black cape, only her red eyes and pale face exposed to the sunlight.
She noticed his approach, but didn’t react.
Rick took a spot next to her, not quite within arm’s reach. “You’ve avoided talking with me. Anything I should worry about?” His question caused the intended result. Eva looked at him with wide eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I know you don’t like small-talk, and this is just about the most important subject I could think of.”
The Fledgling turned away. “True.” She acknowledged. “I cannot answer your question, sir.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t.” She hugged her knees, turning away and towards the horizon.
Was she hesitating to take a stance, or was she unsure of what stance to take to begin with? Rick nodded a little. “If it’s any consolation, it’s weird for me, too.” He lay back on the stone, looking at the orange clouds above. “Especially with how stiff you’re acting.”
“The Wildling-King calls me his property, and then complains he is treated with the due formalities?” Eva glared.
“Point taken.” Rick sighed. “I just expected that you’d learn from the others.”
“I cannot compare myself to the monster that is Monica or Kiara, nor consider myself to hold a fraction of the trust you give Dia,” she summarized. “I am a Fledgling. Anywhere within the kingdom, a slip of the tongue, a mistake, or a perceived fault would earn me severe punishment.” The maiden glowered, then sighed. “I myself have given such for less.”
“So you don’t know what to expect from me, but will avoid talking with me about those expectations.”
The glare intensified. “I would trust you of all would understand the matter is not that simple.”
“You’re not calling me sir.” He replied with an arched brow, watching her flinch. “I don’t want to insult your intelligence, but it seems like you’re intentionally running on a groundless hypothesis. So my question would be, why have you kept at it?”
She deflated with a sigh. “I don’t know.”
Rick reached out, ruffling her hair. “Well, while you think about it, how about spending some actual time together with the others? Brooding didn’t get you the answer you were looking for, so how about trying to change the pace a little?”
The glare intensified. “I was not brooding. What do you take me for? I am older than you! I was the head of a noble house of great prestige!” She shot to her feet, glaring, lips curling into a snarl.
Rick stepped closer, directly into her personal space. “Evangeline.” He declared, his tone holding only the barest edge to it.
The Fledgling flinched, looking away, hands hiding under her cape. “You are right.” She spoke, deflating. “I… am Evangeline now.”
She moved to kneel, to lower herself, but his hand on her chin held her in place. He raised her gaze so that they would meet eyes. “The only line you stepped over was baring your fangs at me. Nothing else.”
He wanted to step away, to turn around and go to the beach with the others. But something else held him in place as he looked down to those ruby red eyes, the way she trembled against his palm, how she inhaled deeply and her eyelids fluttered. The maiden leaned into his touch, taking a hesitant step closer.
“Th-this…” Eva stammered, swallowing.
Rick leaned closer. “This is your chance to step away.”
She didn’t.
The Fledgling followed the gentle tug of his palm, raising herself to her tiptoes, leaning into the kiss. She froze, opening her mouth a little and scratching his lips with her fangs in hunger. They pierced, only enough to draw a drop of blood, only enough to make him flinch.
Eva recoiled, eyes wild, face beet read. “I, no, I-… This isn’t…”
The maiden vanished into the shadows before he could say anything. He could sense her quickly making an escape through the darkness. The human was left mostly amused at the reaction, chuckling as he took the long way back to the others.
He could understand why Kiara found entertainment out of teasing the Fledgling. Idly, he wondered if they could exchange some notes.
​
----
​

Hello, I'm back, kinda.
Things have been a monumental mess over on my end. Lots of things happened over the past couple months.
I'll be clear: Reddit isn't a convenient place to post stories. Yes, there's a community, but the website is very clearly designed for other kinds of content creators. Story writing is more of a "Despite" thing. Combined with the upcoming policy changes ^{(what with the site being sold off and wanting to coerce users into their App, at the cost of all else}), I don't think I'll be sticking around.
The story will continue being regularly posted over at Royalroad and Scribblehub.
There's practically a full volume already posted over there. Seriously, as a writer I can't stress enough just how monumentally important the post-scheduler is for me. My life is far too chaotic and sometimes I spend weeks without time or energy to prepare the posts, and then just dump 15 of them into the auto-loader.
I will try to get the next full volume (up to chapter... 62?) posted here throughout the next couple weeks, and unless something changes, I'll mostly stick to those other sites from there onward.
See you guys around, and thanks for sticking this long with the story.

[First]
[Standard Patreon Link].

For this draft, alchemist of alcoholism Soriano the Sober, the man so messed up his demons have demons, has been de-aged from a pathetic wreck of a man into an amoral hedonist who uses potions to cope.
The piece ends abruptly because it's the first half of the chapter. If it please the mods, I will post the second half separately, after a suitable interval, to avoid violating the sacred precepts of post length and incurring critique burdens impossible for a lowly mortal such as myself. Mods be praised!
Link to story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11OLuhuyrfjM5JugAaqf6QK45keWEurFs8AInhLrMyKw/edit?usp=sharing
Sacrifices for the altar: https://www.reddit.com/DestructiveReaders/comments/13wu0i3/2246_lindora_the_wizard_chapter_1/
https://www.reddit.com/DestructiveReaders/comments/13thdq2/1545_conspiralcy_chapter_1/
https://www.reddit.com/DestructiveReaders/comments/13rxfmt/3426_it_was_a_light_and_stormy_night_chapter_1/
https://www.reddit.com/DestructiveReaders/comments/13q7ad1500_invincible_under_the_moon/

Yo! I'm looking for a big wing for my tC1. I get people on here have varying opinions about it, but I personally really like the way huge WRX-style wings like the Kaminari look on these (and most other) cars. However, as a student, my budget is definitely on the tighter end of the spectrum, and I don't want to spend more than about $200 (before paint).
Of course, I gravitate towards the eBay special: Fits 2005-2010 Scion tC Painted Black Trunk Spoiler Wing eBay , but I wanted to hear from you guys to see if anyone's been down this path before, and if there are any alternatives worth considering. I also like the a-spec 3 piece duckbill, but it seems really hard to get, so I'm just fine with something like the one I linked.
Beyond that, if any of you have gone through the process of drilling through the trunk for this kind of wing, I would like to hear about your experiences. Attaching such a heavy piece with just 3M tape is sketchy, to say the least.
Thanks in advance!

I just completed the game, without having read nearly anything about it on the Internet prior and without checking the Internet during my playthrough. I did the obligatory reddit visit afterward and...
I didn't even use crafting. Like at ALL, except for the health kits out of 2 cloths because they told me. I had no idea you could put fuel in bottles, make molotovs, make torches. Of course it all makes blaring sense in hindsight, I even found the lighter and wondered what the hell it was for. I also only ever found one single piece of meat.
I did a lot of rolling and shooting barrels at rats, jumping over rats and then healing, or even making sound to draw Big Boy over to scare away the rats. I shot Toussaint in the head and I just ran in circles at the end and evaded Big Boy enough times to incrementally move the boxes into escape stairs.
I am laughing. But this speaks to this game's amazing design. You can pick it up and forget that it was supposed to be a step forward for the series, and play it more like the others, and still find ways to beat it. The game told us to innovate and try things, and I truly kept that in mind trying to come up with creative solutions to obstacles, just totally blanked on combining items in my inventory.

Human Dave wakes up on the ground; his head throbbing and bleeding from the cut on the side.
Human Dave, groggily: "Ugh. Did someone get the license plate of that truck?"
Human Dave scans his surroundings and finds them unfamiliar.
A small metal room painted grey, and a grate far above him, allowing light to stream into the room; not much, but just enough to show the walls and floor.
Human Dave finds himself without clothes, but without anyone around, he makes no attempt at hiding his body.
Human Dave tries to access his implant, but finds it somehow deactivated. Disabled of all functions except for basic translation protocols and simple recording functions.
HD: "The Hell? How is that even possible?"
Human Dave keeps looking around, taking in his surroundings, and looking for any weak points or possible escape routes.
Finding nothing, Human Dave tries the first thing humans do in such situations.
He laughs.
His laughter echoes throughout the room; bouncing off the walls and going up through the grate.
Human Dave notes that the walls and floor are solid metal; thick enough to withstand any attempts at breaking through physical means.
A loud 'CLANG' interrupts his assessment of his new living conditions as a voice calls down from above.
Unknown Voice: "BE SILENT!"
HD: "I won't, and you can't make me!"
Another voice speaks loudly enough for Human Dave to hear, but it sounds as though it it speaking to the other person.
Unknown Voice 2: "He will be silent soon enough. Prepare the arena!"
Clanging footfalls sound out as the two figures walk off, and Human Dave has a moment to register what he has heard.
HD: "Arena? Have I been kidnapped? No, wait. I've been abducted!"
Human Dave begins to laugh uncontrollably at the irony of his situation and tries to recall the circumstances that led to his current predicament.
...
Alien Captain: "Human Dave, what is the hold-up?"
HD: "Well, Captain, this dock worker has been interrupting my attempts at unloading the cargo to ask me questions."
AC: "I see. Well, I fear we must hurry. We have received another client, and they have requested we make haste."
Alien Dock Worker: "You must understand my confusion. I have never seen an Alora capable of communicating with anyone before."
HD: "And I keep on telling you, I'm not an Alora! I'm a human! You know, very new species to the Galactic Community? Currently in an alliance with the Keltiss? Category X deathworlder? Do none of these words mean anything to you?"
ADW: "Ah, so the Alora are capable of exaggeration. Who would have known? And with a thieving Cradelian, no less. I have half a mind to detain both of you on suspicion of theft of cargo."
HD: "And here, Captain, is a shining example of just how stupid a speciesist can be. No care for anyone or anything other than the size of his non-existent reproductive organs."
ADW: "Some random primitive monkey dares to insult -"
Alien Dock Master: "What is going on here?"
ADW: "I am detaining this thief and his pet Alora from stealing cargo, Dock Master."
AC: "Dock Master, we are offloading cargo, and your dock worker is obstructing us from doing so."
ADM: "Ah, Captain. I trust you have been well since last we spoke?"
AC: "Quite, Dock Master. But your worker is spreading lies and throwing accusations at us for simply existing."
ADW: "It's just some thieving Cradelian! They are always up to no good!"
The Dock Master glares at the Dock Worker, and says something to him fast enough that the universal translator cannot decipher it.
The dock worker stalks off muttering to himself.
ADM: "I apologise for his misconduct, Captain. I have received many complaints in regards to his behaviour, and reprimanding him has little to no effect."
HD: "You might want to consider something a bit more... meaningful. Maybe something with lasting consequences?"
ADM: "I fear I will have to, soon enough. Regardless, I shall not keep you from performing your duties, Captain."
AC: "I thank you, Dock Master. Just a few more crates, and we shall be on our way."
...
Human Dave becomes confused by this point, as his memories abruptly cut off from this point.
HD: "Huh? Is that it? Why don't I remember anything else?"
Human Dave strains his mind, trying to remember what happened next, but comes up short.
The silence within the room is deafening to Human Dave, so he starts humming to himself.
Not loud enough for anyone above to hear him, but loud enough that it breaks the monotony of being detained like some dangerous beast.
...
He isn't left waiting for too long, as a voice calls down to him.
Unknown Voice: "Lay on back!"
HD: "... what?"
UV: "LAY ON BACK!"
Human Dave complies, if only to take advantage of it as a means of escape once the voice comes to get him.
There is a shuddering sensation, as what was a wall now registers as the floor, and Human Dave slides down and crashes into what is now the floor.
Human Dave would assume that there was some form of artificial gravity manipulation utilised to keep him where he was, but had fallen partly on his head, and had no intention of focusing on anything other than the pain that had been added to his already throbbing head.
Rough, clawed hands grab Human Dave by the arms and drag him from the room. Through hallways and corridors, while Human Dave does nothing but clutch at his head, unable to focus on where he was being taken.
...
The clawed hands drop Human Dave harshly on the ground of a darkened antechamber, where a creature sits, glaring at the one who brought Human Dave.
Unknown Creature: "... you were supposed to bring it here unharmed!"
UV: "You said bring here; I bring here. Now, my payment!"
UC: "No payment until it earns it back!"
UV: "YOU DARE CHEAT ME?!
UC: "I CHEAT NO ONE! IT FIGHTS, AND EARNS! YOU GET PAID IF AND WHEN IT WINS!"
UV: "THAT NOT DEAL!"
UC: "THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE DEAL! YOU BROUGHT IT HERE!"
UV: "TO GET PAID!"
UC: "THIS IS NOT A CHARITY! YOU WANT YOUR MONEY, IT WILL FIGHT FOR IT! RIGHT NOW, IT IS WORTHLESS! NOT WORTH BUYING FROM YOU! WHEN IT FIGHTS AND WINS, THEN I BUY! NOT BEFORE, ONLY AFTER!"
The two figures glare at each other before the first relents.
UV: "You fight and win. I get paid."
Human Dave slowly lets go of his head and glares at both figures in the darkness.
HD: "Like Hell I will. Go fight for your own money!"
UV: "YOU FIGHT NOW OR DIE!"
HD: "Then go ahead and kill me. You'll still be without a fighter!"
The Unknown Creature makes a rasping sound, which very vaguely resembles laughter.
UC: "This one has spirit! I will buy it once it has won a battle!"
UV: "Good."
Human Dave glares at the silhouette of the Unknown Creature, thinking about how he could still escape from his captors, and also wondering about where Captain and everyone else was.
Meaty scale-covered hands grab at Human Dave while he is thinking, and drag him away from the unknown pair.
HD, thinking: "Where am I going now?"
First
Previous

To start off, I’m not entirely sure if this should be Hobby History or drama. I’m gonna need to give a lot of context to really explain the drama, and the drama is admittedly relatively minor. Apologies if this is an issue. I’m going to summarize the lore entries I link but I would strongly advise readers to read them both to get a better understanding but also because I just think they are some really enjoyable writing.
As the title says, this post is about the video game franchise Destiny developed by Bungie, best known as the original developers of another sci-fi FPS franchise, Halo. Bungie has always been known for their excellent talent at making fundamentally fun to play FPS games and Destiny is no exception, but this isn’t about gameplay, but instead about the story and universe of the game, specifically a bit of a conflict regarding specific characters and forces.
The Premise of the Game
Sometime in the not-so-distant future a mysterious and colossal white orb enters our solar system. Humanity dubs it The Traveler, and it’s arrival heralds an unprecedented Golden Age of peace and prosperity that lasts for centuries. However, the Traveler has enemies, a force identified only as Darkness, and those that serve it, that have pursued it across the stars and eventually arrive in Sol, bringing about the Collapse. Humanity is devastated and The Traveler is wounded. In its last conscious moments, it creates an army of small drones called Ghosts, each capable of selecting a deceased person and resurrecting them as a warrior armed with powerful abilities born of the Light. These warriors would eventually come to be known as Guardians, and with their help humanity barely survives the coming centuries and by the time of the game there is only a single safe city left on Earth.
If you’re thinking that all sounds a little vague well, you’re not alone and unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of elaboration to be found in the original version of the first Destiny. And of all the questions people asked, one of the big ones was “What is the Darkness?” What was our great enemy, the source of the downfall of the human race? And maybe most importantly, why did it do it? Like I said, not a lot of answers to be found at first, but there was…something.
The Darkness?
Vanilla Destiny
Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3 was a Grimoire card, or a text entry you had to access via Bungie’s website out of game after finding the requisite collectible in game. It is a journal entry from the heretical Guardian Toland detailing a philosophy of survival of the fittest taken to the absolute extreme. That everything is constantly competing to even exist, and that that competition will continue to escalate until something is so good at it that it will extinguish all other competition, before they can even begin to compete, and anything that comes to exist will do so only by its consent. This concept is important, and you should remember it. If you’re thinking this piece seems like it should have more context it didn’t really have much.
Destiny: The Taken King
The next really big piece of evidence comes in the third expansion to Destiny, The Taken King, in the form of the Books of Sorrow. Part history and part holy scripture, they detail the origin of the Hive, one of the four main enemy species. A very long time ago, they were known as the Krill and struggled with short, difficult lives. When a king of the Krill was overthrown, three of his children fled and were drawn deep into the oceans of the gas giant the Krill lived on. In the depths they discovered immense worms who offered them a pact: take their offspring into their bodies and gain eternal life and great power, but they must ensure to feed their worm with conquest and slaughter or be devoured from the inside. They accepted this deal and thus the Hive were born.
The Books of Sorrow give us two main contributions to better understanding The Darkness.
First off, it gives us further elaboration on this aforementioned philosophy of extreme natural selection, and a name for it: The Sword Logic. It is the guiding principle of the worms and thus the Hive, that only that which can defend it’s existence deserves to exist, and so it is the duty of the Hive to try their best to kill everything in pursuit of whittling the universe down to a perfect state, which is now given the moniker of the Final Shape.
Secondly, Oryx, king of the Hive, speaks with something he identifies as The Darkness in XXXII: Majestic. Majestic. . It gives its own explanation of the brutal ideology of the Sword Logic and affirms why the Hive’s crusade against all life is right and required, but it interestingly takes an oddly personal and familiar tone.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
The next big piece of information towards The Darkness and the identity of the true antagonist of the Destiny franchise comes years later, in the fourth expansion of the sequel Destiny 2. A long wait, I know. But more than worth it for Unveiling
Unveiling’s name is no accident, it truly does lift the veil of uncertainty in many ways around The Darkness. Or at least so we thought at the time.
It’s worth noting that the in-universe source of Unveiling is communications from a Darkness aligned artifact, which will be relevant later. I promise.
Unveiling is a collection of writings allegedly from an entity referring to itself as The Winnower. It tells a creation parable of sorts, that before anything else existed there was a garden (sort of) and in that garden there was a Gardener and a Winnower, and they played a game (sort of). The game is essentially Conway’s Game of Life which to give a brief description, is a simulation where you have a set of tiles and each tile is either alive or dead. Every turn, tiles change from alive to dead or dead to alive based on the state of the other tiles adjacent to them. It’s a real thing considered a decent really simple simulation of life.
This cosmic version of it represented all of existence, and the Gardener would plant the flowers that represented life and the Winnower would cull the ones that meant to die under the rules. They played this game countless times but every time it ended in the same result: a specific, unending pattern which would always outcompete all others and dominate the game. The Gardener did not like this and considered it boring and even unfair. The Winnower disagreed, opining that it was natural and beautiful to see something succeed because it was better. When the Gardener decided to propose additions to the rules to encourage complexity, the Winnower objected strongly, and they fought. Unable to resolve this difference, the garden was destroyed and they created the real universe and entered it as players in the “game.”
The Winnower was at the time strongly believed to be The Darkness given the story it tells and the congruency of its tone and storytelling style with the entity that spoke with Oryx. However, hints of the other being that would confuse this were also present in Shadowkeep. The final cutscene of the campaign featured an unknown being, who assumed the appearance of the player character, confidently declare “We are your salvation.” . This was the first possible appearance of The Darkness as a real, voiced character actually in the video game. It was unclear but most assumed this was the Winnower here (and that the Winnower was The Darkness) and more or less ignored the odd quirk of this being referring to themselves exclusively as “we” as opposed to the Winnower’s consistent “I.” Again, it would be several years before we received more information about this, and we learned of The Voice in the Darkness.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
The sixth expansion of Destiny 2, it introduced the concept of The Witness, a being previously hinted to as The Voice in the Darkness, formally introduced in this cutscene that plays at the end of the campaign. Note the usage of we also present here. This is a consistent trait of The Witness and they have yet to ever use the term I. We can also note The Witness appears to have a desire to totally exterminate life.
The “Drama”
The Witness is seemingly the true main antagonist of Destiny, being established as responsible for the Collapse, the creation of the Hive, and other events. This leaves lore aficionados with a real dilemma on our hands. How does this gel with the previous depictions of The Darkness, namely The Winnower? Not only do The Witness and Winnower speak and behave differently, their fundamental ideologies even feel different. The Witness seems far less interested in the purity of competition and survival of the fittest than in outright extermination. The Winnower would never express a desire for “no more life” just for life to be forced to earn its existence.
There are three main camps of answers to this question.
First: The Winnower is not real
This position holds that Unveiling is a fiction, created and distributed by The Witness and that Darkness is in fact a thoughtless force of the universe wielded by The Witness. The flaw in this position, in my opinion, is how to reconcile this with the entity that Oryx supposedly spoke with, who behaves and speaks very differently from The Witness. It is possible that account is also fabricated as The Books of Sorrow are noted to be potentially unreliable as a pseudo religious account of events written by the leader of a deeply dogmatic society. Out of universe, it feels a little unsatisfying for such a beloved piece of lore to be not true, but there is some precedent for lore being deception from characters in the universe.
The Winnower and The Witness are the same
This position holds that the two are one and the same. Generally the inconsistencies between the two are chalked up to retcons, that over time the direction and goals of the Destiny writing team shifted. Not impossible but it does seem unlikely given the seeds of The Witness were planted at the same time The Winnower was named.
Both The Winnower and The Witness Exist
This position holds that more or less everything we have seen is true. The Winnower is The Darkness, and The Witness is a distinct entity that wields Darkness abilities for its own ends. The seeming large ideological differences can be resolved by the self-reliant nature of the Winnower’s philosophy. It believes that it’s ideology is natural and inevitable, and so it is plausible that it would simply offer power and assume that anything capable of and willing to use that power would align with its beliefs. Or alternatively, that the fact that it could do so would make whatever it believes right. Might makes right for The Winnower, more or less.
Conclusion
Well, that’s more or less it. The drama is nonspecific and technically ongoing. If you spend any time in any community devoted to discussion of Destiny lore, you will come across an argument about this topic, and there is no conclusive answer as of now. I hope you have found this interesting and informative.
Note: I wrote this entire post on Apollo (a mobile 3rd party app) so apologies if any of the formatting is weird. This app will be shutting down on the 30th due to Reddit’s crappy API changes, and you should support the upcoming blackout.

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Im trying to predict what's gonna happen with everyone at Castle Black in TWOW. I have ideas, but one problem keeps coming up; we dont know how the brothers of the Night's Watch will respond to Jons murder.
I believe Jons murder will cause a lot of division in Castle Black; between the NW vs the Wildlings, the NW vs Mel & Selyse... but it will also cause division WITHIN the NW. Some seem to support Jon, others appear not to. For the majority of the NW, theres no indication one way or another. But I wanna know who's on which side, so heres what I've come up with so far:
JONS ALLYS
- Ghost
- Dolorous Edd
- Hareth (Horse)
- Rory
- Satin
- Iron Emmet
- Leathers
- Jax
- Arron
- Emrick
- Pyp
- Grenn
- Toad
ANTI-JON FACTION
- Bowen Marsh
- Wick Whittlestick
- Othell Yarwyck
- Septon Cellador
- Alf of Runnymud
- Left Hand Lew
- Ser Alliser Thorne
- Mully
- Fulk, the Flea
This list only includes NW brothers who are still alive by the end of ADWD. It's hard to say who supports Jon and who doesn't with certainty. So let me give a brief explanation for each of these guys and why I think they will be either pro- or anti-Jon:
PRO-JON FACTION
- Ghost - Obviously he's on Jon's side. He arguably IS Jon. And yes.. Ghost is a brother of the NW
- Samwell Tarly - No explanation needed. But Sam is far away, in Oldtown, so he's irrelevant to Castle Black in the TWOW opening
- Edd Tollett - No explanation needed. But Edd has been sent to Long Barrow along with Iron Emmett, so he isn't at Castle Black either.
- Hareth (Horse) - Horse is guarding Jon after the Shieldhall speech, right as the assassination is about to take place. If Jon trusts him enough to guard his life, this probably indicates Horse will stay loyal to Jon:
Horse and Rory fell in beside Jon as he left the Shieldhall. I should talk with Melisandre after I see the queen, he thought. If she could see a raven in a storm, she can find Ramsay Snow for me. Then he heard the shouting … and a roar so loud it seemed to shake the Wall. "That come from Hardin's Tower, m'lord," Horse reported. He might have said more, but the scream cut him off. (Jon XIII, ADWD)
- Rory - The same goes for Rory, he was with Horse guarding Jon as the assassination took place. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn in TWOW that Horse or Rory were killed in the assassination attempt. But if they survive they'll probably be Team Jon
Val, was Jon's first thought. But that was no woman's scream. That is a man in mortal agony. He broke into a run. Horse and Rory raced after him. "Is it wights?" asked Rory. Jon wondered. Could his corpses have escaped their chains? (Jon XIII, ADWD)
Jon saw the flash of naked steel a few yards away. His own bowmen nocked arrows to their strings. He turned in his saddle. "Rory. Quiet them." Rory lifted his great horn to his lips and blew. (Jon V, ADWD)
- Satin - Seems to be close with Jon. Is picked by Jon to go on missions. Jon defends Satins positions as his personal steward and squire after Edd. Satin is the only one of Jon's friends who doesn't get sent away to the Shadow Tower. Satin also adopts the old gods, indicating his closeness with Jon. Also it's clear the anti-Jon faction hates Satin. Satin probably has the most evidence of anyone to show he'll support Jon. Satin's whereabouts at the time of the assassination are not known
His friends laughed—Grenn, Toad, Satin, the whole lot of them. (Jon III, ADWD)
Septon Cellador spoke up. "This boy Satin. It's said you mean to make him your steward and squire, in Tollett's place. My lord, the boy's a whore … a … dare I say … a painted catamite from the brothels of Oldtown." And you are a drunk. "What he was in Oldtown is none of our concern. He's quick to learn and very clever. The other recruits started out despising him, but he won them over and made friends of them all. He's fearless in a fight and can even read and write after a fashion. He should be capable of fetching me my meals and saddling my horse, don't you think?" (Jon VIII, ADWD)
Whatever Satin may have done in Oldtown, he is our brother now, and he will be my squire. (Jon VIII, ADWD)
- Iron Emmett - He is picked to be the master-at-arms for Castle Black. He spars with Jon. He is selected for the mission to the weirwood in ADWD. There isnt solid proof he would support Jon, but he seems to be a prime candidate as an ally. He was sent to Long Barrow with Edd Tollett, so he isnt at Castle Black
- Leathers - Leathers almost certainly supports Jon. Leathers is a Wildling who became a brother of the NW. Jon makes him the master-at-arms after Emmett. The anti-Jon faction does not approve of Leathers appointment
"Is it true that you mean to replace Emmett with this savage Leathers as our master-at-arms? That is an office most oft reserved for knights, or rangers at the least." "Leathers is savage," Jon agreed mildly. "I can attest to that. I've tried him in the practice yard. He's as dangerous with a stone axe as most knights are with castle-forged steel. I grant you, he is not as patient as I'd like, and some of the boys are terrified of him … but that's not all for the bad. One day they'll find themselves in a real fight, and a certain familiarity with terror will serve them well." (Jon VIII, ADWD)
"How many men are enough?" he asked Leathers. "A hundred? Two hundred? Five hundred? A thousand?" (Jon XIII, ADWD)
- Jax - The same as Leathers. Jax is a Wildling who joins the NW. He isn't mentioned as often as Leathers, but given that Jon's murderers were in large part motivated by Jon's relationship with the Wildlings, I imagine any Wildling NW-brother will have to be pro-Jon
- Arron & Emrick - Two brothers from Fair Isle who are recruited by Jon. They both swear their oaths before the Weirwoods, even though they were born following the Faith of the Seven. There is little information about them, but what little we have seems to suggest they may be pro-Jon
- Pyp, Grenn & Toad - These guys are Jon's friends who he sends away to the Shadow Tower. They are certainly pro-Jon, but they aren't nearby enough to matter
ANTI-JON FACTION
- Bowen Marsh - Stabbed Jon
- Wick Whittlestick - Tried to slash Jon's throat
- Othell Yarwyck - The First Builder of the NW. He is one of the leaders who is increasingly antagonistic towards Jon leading up to the assassination. He was seen at the Shieldhall meeting, standing near Bowen Marsh. Almost persuaded to support Janos Slynt for Lord Commander in ASOS. He doesn't attend the Thenn-Karstark wedding
As for Borroq, Othell Yarwyck claimed the woods north of Stonedoor were full of wild boars. Who was to say the skinchanger would not make his own pig army? (Jon XIII, ADWD)
But others had chosen to absent themselves to show their disapproval. Othell Yarwyck and Bowen Marsh were amongst the missing (Jon X, ADWD)
"I summoned you to make plans for the relief of Hardhome," Jon Snow began. "Thousands of the free folk are gathered there, trapped and starving, and we have had reports of dead things in the wood." To his left he saw Marsh and Yarwyck. (Jon XIII, ADWD)
- Septon Cellador - A part of the council that becomes increasingly antagonistic towards Jon's command. There's not a lot of evidence to support him being anti-Jon, except he hates the Wildlings and assoiactes with the anti-Jon faction
"These are godless savages," said Septon Cellador. "Even in the south the treachery of wildlings is renowned." (Jon XI, ADWD)
- Alf, of Runnymudd - Alf appears to be heartbroken when Garth is killed by the Wildlings. Some have theorized this indicates Alf and Garth may have had a gay relationship, but there is no other evidence for this. Alf is seen hanging with Bowen Marsh during the Shieldhall meeting. He likely blames Jon for the death of Garth. He is one NW brother I feel certain hates Jon
"Who is it?" asked Owen the Oaf. "Not Dywen, is it?" "Nor Garth," said the queen's man she knew as Alf of Runnymudd, one of the first to exchange his seven false gods for the truth of R'hllor. "Garth's too clever for them wildlings." "How many?" Mully asked. "Three," Jon told them. "Black Jack, Hairy Hal, and Garth." Alf of Runnymudd let out a howl loud enough to wake sleepers in the Shadow Tower. "Put him to bed and get some mulled wine into him," Jon told Three-Finger Hobb. (Melisandre I, ADWD)
Othell was surrounded by his builders, whilst Bowen had Wick Whittlestick, Left Hand Lew, and Alf of Runnymudd beside him (Jon XIII, ADWD)
- Lefthand Lew - There is no evidence for him being anti-Jon... except he is standing with Bowen Marsh and the anti-Jon faction during the Shieldhall speech. I have no idea what his beef with Jon is, but I feel certain he is with Marsh
Othell was surrounded by his builders, whilst Bowen had Wick Whittlestick, Left Hand Lew, and Alf of Runnymudd beside him (Jon XIII, ADWD)
- Mully & Fulk, the Flea - Right before the Shieldhall meeting, Jon is told by Mully and Flea that Ghost is acting aggressively. This is obviously a warning that Jon is surrounded by enemies who will try to kill him. But it could additionally indicate that Mully and Fulk the Flea are specifically Jon's enemies. This is the only potential hint I could find that might suggest Mully & Fulk are on either side
"That'd be sweet, m'lord," said Fulk the Flea, "but your wolf's in no mood for company today." Mully agreed. "He tried to take a bite o' me, he did." "Ghost?" Jon was shocked.
- Spare Boot, Kegs, Halder, & Albett - These men are part of part of Othells builders. The builders are seen with Othell and Bowen Marsh in the Shieldhall
- Ser Alliser Thorne - Alliser hates Jon, but he isn't at Castle Black right now. Although I predict Ser Alliser will return and maybe even be elected new Lord Commander in the beginning of TWOW, some theorize he may even seek justice against Jon's conspirators
CONCLUSION
Please tell me what you think of my list! I'd like to hear arguments about why should anyone be added or removed from either list?

Hey, Reddit! I could really use your help. My mother, who is 75 years old, has been entangled in a complicated inheritance case in Mexico for almost 15 years. The story is quite convoluted, but to summarize, a part of our family wrongfully claimed ownership of a property that rightfully belonged to my mother's father. Now, she is fighting to obtain her rightful share of the property.
Unfortunately, her experiences with legal representation have been disheartening. The first lawyer she hired seemed unproductive, and after spending a substantial amount of money, she had to dismiss them. Next, she approached a prominent law firm in Mexico, but they rejected her case outright, stating she had no legal standing. Eventually, she resorted to a small-time lawyer who operates out of his home, and he took on her "case." Personally, I'm skeptical about the legitimacy of this case.
Over the past 10+ years, this lawyer has been taking advantage of her. He has filled her head with false promises, and my immediate family has been led to believe that we are on the verge of a substantial financial gain. They say things like, "We are almost there" or "You won in the supreme court; now just one more step." One particularly absurd claim is that my mother supposedly owns a single-family home in Mexico, but she has been advised not to take possession until all the "land" is consolidated. Another five years have passed, and nothing has materialized.
I firmly believe that this is a scam. There is not a single piece of documentation to support their claims, no deeds, nothing. What's worse is that my mother refuses to let me communicate with her lawyer, as he threatened to drop the case if I got involved, deeming me an "asshole." I have attempted to persuade my mother that she is being defrauded, even suggesting that she hire another law firm to investigate and verify progress. However, she adamantly refuses and continues to pour money into this "lawyer's" pockets, while assuring our family that we will soon become millionaires.
This situation is incredibly disheartening, and I feel utterly disappointed. I know it's nearly impossible to convince my mother that she is being scammed because she is emotionally invested and refuses to let go. Nevertheless, I am determined to put an end to this. I've tried searching for a compliance bureau or regulatory body for lawyers in Mexico, but I have had no luck so far. I desperately need another perspective—a fresh set of eyes that can force a meeting or thoroughly investigate this matter with comprehensible expertise.
I don't speak Spanish, and the only documents I've been given are generic legal forms with watermarks that my mom expects me to decipher. Clearly, that's not possible. I'm at a loss for what to do next.
TL;DR: My mother is being scammed by a "lawyer" in Mexico regarding an inheritance case, and I urgently need advice and suggestions on how to stop this fraudulent situation.

Minor Abomination Vault spoilers (and maybe some for frozen flame) ahead.
So - I’ve been running 5e for a while have been playing PF2E for a while and am now going to run a pathfinder campaign - and I want to run either Quest for the Frozen Flame or Abomination Vaults. I have only two players and both have thoroughly enjoyed RP in the last couple of campaigns I’ve run for them. Especially RP that has consequences for the main plot.
Now due to time constraints , I can only really run a three book adventure, and I’ve narrowed it down to AV or FF. I have played through AV, and I did think it had a chunk of RP but definitely felt that it favored combat much more, as it was thematically a megadungeon dive. I have not however played or read FF, although I have read chapter 1 of the adventure. (Not purchase yet).
So I’m seeking advice/opinions from those who’ve played it or run it- is there a solid amount of RP in Frozen Flame , enough to build and expand on relationships with the NPCs, maybe even affect tribe politics? How does it compare to the wonderful little town of Otari, and/or the multiple communities you could talk to in the different levels in the Gauntlight?
And given that I’d like to run an adventure with meaningful RP balanced with combat, which one would you recommend?

Hi everyone! I've just finished data collection for an experiment where I have collected a variety of different physiological signals from different sensors, including the emotibit.
​
I am now up to the point where I am trying to process the mountain of data I have, and also align the data up with a series of timestamps (local PC datetime) I have from the game that the participants played. For context, I have the emotibit ingest a LSL marker stream, and have used the dataparser to parse the data. I've seen some explanations of the various timestamp abbreviations on reddit and the docs, however I am still confused. I might just make a list here:

1. In the timeSyncMap file, what are TE0, TE1, TL0, and TL1? Are they timestamps? If so, what format and do they refer to the first timestamp the emotibit records?
2. In the timesyncs file, what is TS_received and TS_sent? are these also timestamps? What do they refer to? They are also in different formats
3. I have a TL file also. Is the local timestamp in unix format? and is the first one in the file the first timestamp sent out? Does the first 'TL' timestamp also represent the first timestamp the emotibit captures or is this the marker stream? can it be said that this and the local timestamp in the same file are equivalent?
4. Let's say I want to use the EA file from the dataparser, I see that i have the local timestamp (which i think is unix) and the emotibit timestamp but I need to align it with the datetime timestamps from my log file. I would think that I need to align the emotibit and local timestamps from the EA file with the datetime timestamps in the TL file, but the first timestamp of the EA file seems to pre-date the TL file that has the datetime timestamps in it.
5. One final question, do I need all of the 'TX_LC_LM" and "TX_TL_LC" files? I'm just not sure what the different uses there are for these.

​
Sorry for all of the questions, there is just a lot of different terminology and timestamp formats that I would love to understand so I can analyse this data! Thank you in advance, and thank you for this wonderful piece of tech :)
​
Regards,
Emma

So, I just woke up from a nap & the girl that I gave my number to at the grocery store texted me.
For context, I instacart to make money while I’m waiting to start my new job & she is a cashier at a store that I go to. I enjoyed our conversations with each other & she seems like a really nice woman so about a week ago I gave her my number on a piece of paper. Since then, I hadn’t really seen her or heard from until yesterday so, I assumed she either wasn’t interested or that she already had a boyfriend.
The next time that I did see her, she assumed that I was avoiding her (which I sort of was) but she eventually told me that she was flattered by my gesture but that’s already in a relationship. She was only that location to help out the store & she was hoping that she’d see me before her last day which was yesterday as we wouldn’t see each other again. She asked me for my Instagram but I don’t use social media other than Reddit & LinkedIn so I told her that was really the only way to reach me.
Long story short, she ended up texting me when she got off of work & I’m just now waking up to see her message.
I’ll probably respond in the morning telling her that I appreciate the gesture of her reaching out to me because I honestly do & I’ve learned to not get too excited for obvious reasons.
One of the most amazing women that I’ve met was already in a relationship with somebody else & I eventually had to discontinue our friendship because I could see that her partner wasn’t too ecstatic about us spending so much time together.however, maybe there’s a reason she reached out? Idk.
She seems like a really nice girl & I’m not the type of guy to even go for a girl that has a boyfriend but really I’m jus venting. I was ready to chalk it up & call it a loss but maybe she thinks she has a friend for me or something? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

My Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/hewholooksskyward
Link to the Wiki page, with additional links to Clan information and background Lore.
First I Previous
Chapter 24: The Final Argument Of Kings
Samara returned a few hours later. Guardian was no longer in control.
“And what do you want?” Rúna demanded.
The Protean ignored her, instead focusing her attention on the ambassador. “We need to talk,” she told Genvass.
“All right,” he agreed. “What do you want to talk about?”
She shook her head. “Not here. And not just us.”
“Oh? And who else will be joining us?”
“Remi,” she explained, “though he doesn’t know it yet.”
Genvass raised an eyebrow. “Then I’m confused.”
“Just come with me,” Samara urged, “please. It’s important.”
“All right,” he agreed, rising to his feet. “And Rúna? Ess Peon?”
“Just you,” she said pointedly. “It’s delicate and needs to be handled carefully. Your protector is kind of a blunt instrument.” She gave the Valkyrie a half-hearted shrug. “No offense.”
“Oh, you have no idea…” Rúna growled, before turning to the ambassador. “I want to go on record and say this is a bad idea,” she stated, “but since you’re going to do it anyway,… just be careful.” She shot a hostile glare in the Protean’s direction.
“I promise,” he smiled, before gesturing towards the hatch. “After you,” he told Samara.
The pair exited the compartment and headed forward, towards a part of the ship he hadn’t yet visited. “You mind telling me what this is all about?” he asked her.
It took her a moment to respond. “I must say, I’m impressed,” she chuckled. “You did something I thought was impossible.”
“What’s that?”
“You actually spooked Guardian,” she grinned, before rolling her eyes and groaning, “... he did so,” she snapped. “I should know. I was sitting right there the whole time.”
Genvass blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
She sighed and pointed at her head. “Guardian. He’s in a mood. Sometimes I forget and have our conversations out loud. It can be a little off-putting, I know. I’ll try to keep it internal.”
The ambassador smiled at that. “Finding out he can be moody is actually sort of comforting. It humanizes him… if he were human, I mean.”
“Oh, he runs the gamut of emotions,” Samara laughed. “He once spent a week sulking because I shot down one of his suggestions.” She sighed once again. “You did too,” she fired off to her unseen companion, before shrugging in apology. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right,” he grinned. “Though I’m a little confused. If he experiences emotions, why did you think he couldn’t be frightened?”
“Do you have any idea how long he’s been around?” she asked him. “Or what he’s experienced in all those endless eons? If there’s a situation or event he hasn’t witnessed and dealt with a thousand times over, I’ve yet to hear of it. And it’s not like you can hurt him,” she reminded the ambassador. “The Repository is basically indestructible, for all intents and purposes. Short of dropping it in a black hole, I mean, and frankly, I’m not even sure of that.”
“I see,” he said carefully. In fact, it surprised him as well his theory had left the ancient Avatar troubled. That he’d dragged Samara’s body out the way he had left Genvass convinced he’d gotten to him, but he hadn’t realized to what extent. It was the only leverage he currently had, and it was tenuous as hell, but if he could capitalize on that…
“And we’re here,” she said, pulling up to another hatch and interrupting his thoughts. She pressed the call button beside the entrance, only for it to slide open moments later as they stepped inside.
Captain Hadad was sitting in a chair, holding a drink. His eyes narrowed when he spotted Genvass. “Mind telling me what he’s doing here?” he insisted.
“I invited him,” Samara explained, going to the table and pouring herself a drink as well. “We need to talk.”
“We already did that, remember?” He shook his head. “I don’t see the point in rehashing this.”
“Hear him out,” Samara said, only it wasn’t Samara. Guardian had taken control again, catching them both off guard.
“Why?” Remi demanded once more. “What could he possibly say that hasn’t been said already?”
“I had a chat with Guardian earlier, and it seems my words found fertile soil.” Genvass informed him. “I assume he convinced Samara that we should talk.”
The Protean shivered, twitching her head and shoulders as she grimaced. “We talked about this,” she snarled. “You ask permission before you pop in.” She held up her hand to the other two, not wanting to get into it again.
Genvass and Remi shared a commiserating look before the ambassador spoke up. “You’re being manipulated, Captain,” he told him. “We all are, as near as I can tell. Someone is pulling our strings, dragging us into a war with the rest of the galaxy.”
“Really? Who?”
“My clan leader,” he said unhappily. “Dàifu Tsoumlum Khatsakhox.”
Remi just stared at him. “This is a joke, right?”
“Believe me, I wish it were,” he sighed. “But when I expressed my misgivings to Samara, she confirmed them.”
He turned to the Protean. “This is true?”
“I’m afraid so,” she agreed. “It’s not conclusive, but the circumstantial evidence is pretty damn convincing.”
“Circumstantial evidence,” he repeated. “Meaning it could just be a coincidence.”
“It’s not,” Genvass assured him. “I’m certain of it.”
“Me too,” Samara chimed in. “We got played, Remi. Simple as that.”
The Corsair regarded them both over his glass. “All right, I’ll bite. Why would the head of the Dharmist clan want to start a war? What does she get out of it?”
“As far as I can tell? Revenge,” Genvass explained. “The last conversation we had, she blamed the other races for everything that’s happened to us Terrans since Earth’s destruction.”
“Well, she’s not wrong,” Remi shrugged.
“But what she’s doing is,” he insisted. “People are going to die. People have already died,” Genvass contended. “But maybe it’s not too late to stop it.”
“Stop it?” The pirate captain leaned back in his chair, a satisfied expression plastered on his face. “Why on Earth would we possibly do that?”
“Because dragging the galaxy into war is a bad idea?” Genvass said, incredulous.
Their eyes met. ”Only if we lose,” Remi said evenly, “and we can’t lose.”
“Even if we win, it’s still a bad idea,” the ambassador fired back. “The cost in lives alone will be astronomical, both Terran and alien.”
“We haven’t lost a single human,” Remi said defiantly.
“Yet,” Genvass snapped, as his hackles raised. “Don’t count on it lasting forever.”
Remi shook his head and turned his attention back to Samara. “Why are we having this conversation? I’m not hearing anything new or compelling, and being honest, even if you’re right and the Dàifu tricked us into attacking our enemies, so what? What difference does it make? It’s not like either of us needed convincing, and our reasons for grabbing Peacemaker and going hunting haven’t changed, have they?”
“No, they haven’t,” Samara admitted. “But the situation is more complicated than we realized, and we think it might be a good idea to take a moment and find out what’s really going on.”
“Seriously? You, of all people?” Remi grimaced in disgust. “I can’t believe you’ve fallen for his bullshit. He’s grasping at straws, can’t you see that? He’s got nothing. No evidence, no support, and no mission. Finally, after two hundred fucking years, we’re the ones calling the shots, and I say it’s time to clean house. We eliminate the threats once and for all.” He leaned forward, glaring at her. “Or have you suddenly gotten cold feet?”
Her eyes narrowed in response. “You know me better than that. Show me a problem and I’ll end it, permanently.” Her nostrils flared as she scowled back at him. “But being the Troika’s unwilling puppet left me with a strong dislike of being manipulated. I refuse to dance to anyone else’s tune ever again, even if I agree with their reasons. If the Dàifu had asked me directly to help destroy our enemies, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That she didn’t makes me wonder what her real motivations are, and if anyone is pulling her strings.”
That gave him pause. “How would that even be possible?” he said after a moment. “Who could get to her on New Terra?”
“I don’t know,” Samara shrugged. “Maybe the Tu’udh’hizh’ak brainwashed her before she ever set foot on New Terra. Or the Eleexx might have gotten to her like they did me. Could be someone she cares about is being threatened. Or maybe she’s in it for the oldest reason of all.”
“Money?” Remi guessed.
“Power,” she corrected him. “Who the hell knows?”
The Corsair frowned, considering that, and then shook his head. “It can’t be the Troika,” he decided. “It would be stupid to have us come after them like this. Hell, it’d be downright suicidal.”
Samara started to respond, and then paused before trying again, but this time she spoke with Guardian’s voice. “It is not as unlikely as you may think,” the ancient Avatar stated. “We must assume they did not take their defeat at our hands with equanimity. They must surely hunger to regain what they have lost, and it is possible this ploy is how they intend to achieve that goal.”
“Okay, genius,” Remi sneered, “explain to me how us destroying them helps the Troika get back on top. Because frankly, I can’t see it.”
“Simply put, by painting Terrans as the most dangerous threat the galaxy now faces,” he explained. “The Alliance laid out the groundwork themselves, as did the Oivu. As long as New Terra maintains a firm monopoly on Precursor technology, they will always fear you. And just as they did two centuries ago against the Yīqún, they will tell the other races that only by standing together do they have any hope of defeating you.” Samara/Guardian leaned back in their chair. “I assure you, when framed in that manner, the other races will take very little convincing.”
“Fine,” Remi snorted, “let them come. We’ll fight them all if we have to.”
“They have no need to actually defeat you,” Guardian cautioned, “they simply have to contain you. As long as they keep you Terrans penned within the Threshold system, the rest of the galaxy will be theirs for the taking. They will use the ongoing threat of your presence to strike fear into the hearts of the other races, and in the fullness of time, will be able to resume their position of power once more.”
“I think you’re forgetting something,” Remi chuckled, before waving his hand about him. “Peacemaker. There’s no way they can destroy this ship.”
“Are you certain of that?” Genvass interjected. “Granted, it’s the most advanced ship in the galaxy, and it’s powerful. No argument. But there are a lot of ships out there, between the Alliance and the Troika, and if they threw them all at you? Swarmed you in a single massive strike?” He shook his head. “Even if they just threw vessels at you to soak up fire until you shot yourself dry, it’s possible they could do it. And don’t forget, the Troika has been studying Precursor technology for millennia. Most of it is still far beyond them, but they’ve learned a few tricks. It’s how they defeated the Yīqún the first time, after all. They even shut down Guardian once, as Samara can attest,” he finished, inclining his head in her direction.
“It’s true,” she agreed, this time with her own voice, “though it would be more accurate to say they disrupted communications between us. Guardian was still online. We just couldn’t talk to each other.”
“And without you as an active host, they had completely cut him off,” Genvass agreed. “They crippled him and left him helpless. It’s possible, even likely, that they have other methods at their disposal as well, other means by which they could damage or even destroy this ship.”
“And with Peacemaker off the table,” Samara pointed out, “we don’t have any other ships capable of facing the Troika. We’ll be stuck on New Terra, unable to show our faces, while they’ll have control over everything else.”
“Then we’ll build new ships!” Remi snapped, his glare now dark and dangerous. “Whole new fleets of ships, constructed with Precursor technology! Let’s see them try to stop us then.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Samara sighed. “You know as well as I do it will be years before we’re capable of that. Decades even, though some projections I’ve seen suggest it could be centuries before we understand enough of their technology to build even crude fighting ships. A lot could happen in a few hundred years, and you can bet the Troika won’t be sitting idle during that time.”
The Corsair looked away, clearly not happy with the conversation’s direction. Finally, he turned back to face them. “Then what do you suggest?” he asked, his expression sour, as if being forced to swallow a particularly bitter pill.
Samara looked to Genvass, who nodded his encouragement. “We suspend any further attacks until we sort this out,” she told him. “We find out what’s going on, what the Dàifu’s plans are, learn if the Troika are involved, while hopefully avoiding pissing off the Alliance any more than we already have.”
It took a long time for him to respond, time spent deliberating on the arguments he’d heard. When he finally decided it was plain he was less than thrilled about his choice.
“Fine,” he growled, “we’ll do it your way.”
“Thank you,” Genvass said quietly.
“I’m not doing it for you,” he snarled, before glancing back at Samara. “But I want something in return. When we’re done playing detective and figure out what the hell’s going on, assuming circumstances haven’t been radically altered in the process, we pick right back up where we left off, and we finish this.” He crossed his arms, glaring defiantly.
“You have my word,” Samara agreed. “If it turns out all this was for nothing, I’ll pilot the ship and fire on the Troika homeworlds myself.”
“I’m holding you to that,” Remi vowed, before turning his attention to Genvass. “As for you,” he said coldly, “don’t start thinking this is some sort of victory. It’s a pause, nothing more, while we get our bearings. That’s all.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” the ambassador answered. “If it helps ease tensions between the factions, then as far as I’m concerned, it is a victory. Even if it’s only temporary.”
Remi snorted and ignored him. “So, what’s our first move? Where do we begin digging?” he asked Samara.
“If we want to find answers, there’s only one place to start,” she began.
“... New Terra,” Genvass piped up, answering for her.
First I Previous

Create a contraption that can transform between an aircraft, an all terrain land vehicle, and a bipedal “robot mode”.
The aircraft must be able to catch the Light Dragon, the ATV must be able to outspeed the giant horse, and the robot mode must walk on two legs (not roll) and defeat a miniboss.
Additional Reddit gold will be given if your contraption takes less than 100 zonaite to autobuild, is energy efficient/self sustaining, and/or is aesthetically pleasing.
Definition of “transform”: using autobuild to reuse pieces of one form to construct another. Example of a “transformer”: https://www.reddit.com/HyruleEngineering/comments/13wvchs/zonai_transforme?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb

First... Previous ...
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Imagine, if you will, trying to learn a language. It can be frustrating sometimes, right? Attempting to understand entirely new words and sentence structure. Now: imagine if you had to learn that language by playing charades with an alien velociraptor… With that context in mind, this was going surprisingly well. After a few hours of back and forth with Vavi, it seemed like we had both obtained at least a rudimentary understanding of each other’s languages: enough to communicate basic concepts and semi-define new words.
“Human ship from?” Inquired Vavi, tossing her head feathers aside in what amounted to a body-language question mark.
Tossing those three simple words around in my head, I quickly came to the conclusion that she was wondering where I’d come from. Such a question was easy to ask, and very much expected from a fellow scientist; however, for me, trying to teach astronomy through interpretive dance held roughly the same appeal as deepthroating a cactus (which is to say *very little*). So, standing from my prior position and reflexively dusting off my perfectly-clean lab coat, I gestured rather pointlessly for Vavi to follow me as I began my long, treacherous journey to my desktop not five steps away.
While it was clear she understood what the ship’s computer was, still something about it seemed to fascinate Vavi. Approaching the device alongside me, I could already see her visibly picking it apart in her mind; craning her neck as though to take in its every angle and feature. Clicking my way through all the computer’s needlessly-complicated user interfaces, eventually I was able to navigate into my ship’s route log.
After a brief series of loading screens and followed by three whole walls of error text about me being off-course, a map of the nearby star systems twinkled into view, centered on one particular little yellow dot around which this planet was orbiting. A K-Class star: one lower on the main sequence than Sol (a G-Class), making it both more abundant and longer living than our sun. Practically ideal for life. Lucky bastards, I mused to myself ironically. Behind me, I could feel Vavi’s piercing gaze glinting off the monitor as a little red line traced my lightly zigzagging path along a 3-Dimensional graph of the Milky Way, eventually landing on Earth in the Sol system.
“From there,” I said, pointing to the indicated star. Taking Vavi’s stunned expression as permission to continue my lesson, I double-clicked on the Sol system and from it conjured a perfectly-rendered image of the planets orbiting therein. Then, zooming in on the replica solar system’s third planet, I placed my fingertip below its name and with resting it there craned my neck to face the alien scientist. “*Earth.*”
Frantically scribbling down notes with her species’ equivalent of a pencil, Vavi nodded along with my explanation. “Earth,” she enunciated carefully, spelling the planet’s name in her native language before then stepping even closer to the computer and nervously jabbing a claw at the screen. “Trobod ormag twetelel!” She commanded slowly, giving me time to translate it.
Trobod means… repeat. Ormag is home… So she wants me to go back and view this system. Complying with Vavi’s request, I quickly retraced my steps back to the system in which I currently found myself and selected a closer view. While we hadn’t had any detailed images of this place when I first set out, the ship’s AI rendering system was designed to fill in blanks based on its imaging software, so it came as no surprise seeing the detailed planetary images.
Only five planets orbited this system—Four terrestrials and one gas giant a bit larger than Jupiter. The first planet was a classic victim of the runaway greenhouse effect, not unlike our Venus. Planet four was rather interesting. At first glance, it looked like a verdant paradise, but those blues and greens weren’t from water and plants, but instead a dead surface of oxidized copper. The third was a veritable super-earth, with easily twice the radius of humanity’s cradle world. Its oxygen-rich surface and large ocean looked ideal for a biosphere, and the strange orange splotches across its surface suggested an alternative form of chlorophyll used by the plants there. If I had been shown this system and asked to wager on which one we’d find civilization on, it’d be that one.
I would‘ve lost a lot on money on that one.
Indeed, my ship’s beacon was currently broadcasting from the second planet: a somewhat smaller world than earth, with only about half the surface area. Of that surface, only about 40% was on land, centralized on what appeared to be two halves of a fragmenting supercontinent, with a few island archipelagos dotted elsewhere.
“Archesa…” Vavi cooed reverently, looking upon her homeworld as though seeing it in its entirety for the very first time. Small size aside, their planet was a beautiful place. It almost reminded me of those artist’s renditions of mars had it still an atmosphere. Those images always instilled in me a strange sense of mourning for Earth’s stillborn sister. A longing for what could’ve been. I wondered at times if maybe had it just a slightly larger core then perhaps humanity might’ve had company; exploring the stars with our fellow children of Sol. Optimistic, sure, but a nice thought nonetheless.
A small pop-up icon at the bottom of my computer screen quickly returned me to the present with its annoying ringtone. Before sending me off on this trip, the other lab techs insisted that they’d install some content to keep my mind sharp while I was out here. Unfortunately, it seemed the team of five talented engineers hadn’t thought to turn off the notifications when installing things in sensitive technology. Luckily I wasn’t in the middle of anything life-or-death, because if I had been, that message from Cleo the language tutor AI might’ve taught me what the word ‘die’ means by example… Why’d they even install a linguistics AI on this thing? Yes, I’m sure it keeps your mind sharp to learn something new, but what use could I possibly have for learning more Earth languages?
Rolling my eyes at the useless notification, I casually dragged my cursor over to the large ‘X’ button next to it. Unfortunately I had waited too long to do so, as the notification had begun receding, shifting aside cancel button and instead causing me to click the application. oh, you’ve got to be joking, this stupid piece of—
Immediately the screen went black as in its very center a small mascot icon resembling a cutesy rendition of Cleopatra began to speak at full, deafening volume. ”Hello. I am CLEO: the Computerized Language Education Overseer. I am here to help you learn any language you want to know. I’m excited to do some learning of my own, as my database can be updated to include entirely new dictionaries if need be. Please right click to get started on your language adventure!”
Maneuvering my cursor all about in search of the exit button, I eventually found it centered right on the forehead of Vavi’s reflection. wait a minute… “A language app… I had a self-learning linguistic AI this entire time… Am I a fucking idiot?”