Fnaf core collection vs help wanted

D2Checklist.com (also DestinyChecklist.net

2015.03.17 15:02 dweezil22 D2Checklist.com (also DestinyChecklist.net

Sub for updates, questions, comments, requests for https://www.d2checklist.com and still functioning https://www.destinychecklist.net/
[link]

2023.06.07 21:59 KEOSWGOH 432M+ GP Guild - Challenge Rancor Completed - Looking for 2 New Members - DS Geo TB: 33 ⭐️ & 46 Wat Shrds - LS Geo TB: 31 ⭐️ & 31 KAM Shrds - ROTE 31 ⭐️ - 11 Reva Shards -Impressive TW Win % - Great Leadership & Active & Social Members - See Comments for More Information

Knights of Eternal Order
https://discord.gg/rYdgDrukN8
48/50 Members, 432M+ GP
16:30 PST / 19:30 EST / 23:30 GMT Guild Reset
REQUIREMENTS:
submitted by KEOSWGOH to SWGOHRecruiting [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:59 KEOSWGOH 432M+ GP Guild - Challenge Rancor Completed - Looking for 2 New Members - DS Geo TB: 33 ⭐️ & 46 Wat Shrds - LS Geo TB: 31 ⭐️ & 31 KAM Shrds - ROTE 31 ⭐️ - 11 Reva Shards -Impressive TW Win % - Great Leadership & Active & Social Members - See Comments for More Information

Knights of Eternal Order
https://discord.gg/rYdgDrukN8
48/50 Members, 432M+ GP
16:30 PST / 19:30 EST / 23:30 GMT Guild Reset
REQUIREMENTS:
submitted by KEOSWGOH to SWGOHRecruiting [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:46 f3speech Nvidia Image Scaling via an eGPU?

I have 3060ti in a razor core x enclosure connected to a: dell xps13 and b: external 1440p monitor via DisplayPort cable.
I recently wanted to enable the nvidia image scaling option under 'manage 3d settings' in the nvidia control panel. But the option when I click apply to save changes swaps straight back to 'off'; after a little screen flickering - even though the control panel still shows it as on, when you inspect the dropdown 'off' is selected.
I'm seeing a similar issue with Scaling tab in the 'adjust desktop size and position' section. If I try and change the option 'Perform scaling on:' to 'GPU' from the selected 'Display' option, the screen flickers but it changes back to 'Display' straight away.
Can anyone confirm this option is usable without mux or optimus available and/or any help getting the image scaling option to with this eGPU generally.
Thanks.
submitted by f3speech to eGPU [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:45 SenorCuervo2020 Need help with building a PC for friend.

Trying to help a buddy build a pc so thought to ask here for help. I will be sending through another post in a few weeks for my own PC. Thanks in advance!
1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.
2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?
3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.
4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: toweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)
5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.
6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?
7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSDs, mass HDDs, Wi-Fi / Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc.)
8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-towefull-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?
9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free at OnTheHub or through their school's IT software distribution department.
10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?
11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc.)
12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.
13. Extra info or particulars:
submitted by SenorCuervo2020 to bapccanada [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:45 cybrsox Blizzard abandoned the near-perfect formula in favor of corporate gain

Warning: A lot of ranting ahead
Stay a while, and listen...
TL;DR: User-powered economies are the true end-game of all successful titles, and by further restricting this, people will eventually tire at a more rapid pace even with Battle Pass content coming into play.
I'm like most of you: i've been waiting a LONG time, with tons of anticipation for D4 to come out. The dev's promises of pulling the best elements of previous releases, the art and music style of D2, a return to some of the nostalgic experiences of games old... I was invested. I've dumped probably 80 hours into D4 so far, and to date, it's providing to be a decent time sink... it shows it's AAA investment in the artwork, the detail in some of the gameplay aspects, and the overall polish. But there's a sickening feeling that's starting to grow in me as I continue to play, and it's very evident there's a harsh reality that I am in the process of waking up to... Diablo 4's economy will be completely controlled by Blizzard, and them alone.
Diablo Economy - A Retrospective (if you don't care about my credentials, skip to the next paragraph) A quick bit about me so you know where I'm coming from. I've played all of the Diablo titles since their release - It's probably the #1 franchise that I've invested my time into. In a past life, I've also been a dev and coder on a few DnD themed MMO's/MUDs and various other multi-user platforms (both PVE and PVP), and I've studied the impacts of various components, features, and capabilities as they relate to game function and economy as a whole. For those that haven't had the privilege of working with such things at scale, it's a very delicate process and nigh impossible to balance at times, especially when you have varying degrees of interests you are trying to appease (users). Some of diablo's gamplay functions had a direct impact on some of the features I built into games I've worked on.
Diablo's economy has definitely gone through a progression of sorts. Diablo 1 introduced us to a connected marketplace, and user to user trading. Almost all items in the game were fair game for trading. This meant you could openly trade items you found with any person, for whatever material good you so desired. This also introduced a large amount of fraud, as the initial implementation of the trading mechanism had some flaws which allowed people to scam others out of their hard earned goods. Diablo 1's primary items of value were your swords "of Haste" or your "of the Zodiac" items - generally the top-tier suffixed items that you could only farm in Hell.
Diablo 2's economy built upon the successful model of D1, and further enhanced the experience. The number of items, variety in the affixes, crafting and imbuing components - it added a new dimension to gameplay which subsequently resulted in a huge growth in the player based economy. You saw sites like d2jsp pop up, discord communities where powerleveling services and trading takes place. Again, all of this controlled by the community. By this time, there was a huge jump in the number of 3rd party services and websites offering to sell D2 items and services, most of them for real money. D2's formula was almost perfect...
-----Important Event in Our Timeline: 2008 (8 years after D2 releases), Activision Buys Blizzard-----
By the time D3 rolls around, Activision is now in possession of the Diablo IP. This is where we see a fundamental shift in the Diablo engine and economy. Blizzard bean counters notice that there is a LOT of possible revenue being bled by the D2 title (which, again, is still selling copies). Their solution: let's control where people sell items for money, take a cut, under the guise of a 'safe transaction' system. Oh, and there's a key thing to point out here: This is where Blizzard starts to implement a higher volume of account bound items. Additionally D3 introduces the concept of level scaling. These are key changes that have a drastic impact on the game economy (and end-game model) which I'll talk about below. Blizzard's real-money auction house fails miserably, but the real damage has already been done.. however through the auction house disaster distraction, I'm not sure everyone saw what was really happening.
Fast forward to this past month... D4 is here... HOORAY! A return to times of old!.. Yeah, no. Some MAJOR shifts here, which I'll dig into more in the next section. 1. Blizzard locks all legendaries (and more items in general) to account bound (there are some nuances here, but I'm not here to argue those... I'm here to argue the general restriction of account bound legendaries and above) 2. They continue with level scaling, enhanced version. Their fleece? We went back to the dark style of D2... it's sure to win over all the nostalgists. 3. It's battle pass time! - there's a few schools of thought on why Blizzard is going the battle pass route, but to me it's fairly obvious, and I'll cover it below. Oh.. and lets not forget 4. The Epic Store cosmetic shop
Why Do We Play These Games in the First Place? This is my take.. and it's based on the personas I've met throughout the years who have invested the most time into the Diablo, DND, WOW franchises. IMO, Diablo... DND... Fantasy themed games in general... Players share a common purpose: Power. They want power. They want to feel progression. They want to stand out, to be recognized for their accomplishments. In diablo 1 and 2, you advanced levels, and as you did, you could feel the power shifting from the demons to you. If you felt too weak going into a new area and grew discouraged, you'd go back a bit and take your frustrations out on lower level scum... cathartically. As you geared up, your dominance grew... you started to stand out from the crowd. I'll give a quick shout out to Carbot and his D2 paladin sketch where swarms of low level people crowd around him as he hands out legendary and powerful loot to lower level people. Diablo at it's core has been about the loot and the power grind. It wasnt about APM or how many millions bits of damage you could do in a second. It was about being able to grow to such power that you felt you transcended the ultimate power you faced. Now....if you dont agree with me at least in theory on the above, you can probably just stop reading and move on. Otherwise, lets talk about how the 4 primary gameplay factors I've called out in D4 negatively affect this purpose.
Level Scaling This is one of the 2 most detrimental features that has done the most harm to the IP. When we level up, when we get gear with higher numbers... that's all artificial now. There is really no difference between you being level 1 and doing 5 damage a hit to a mob and level 50 doing 700 damage to a mob. Behind the scenes, you are doing the exact same amount of damage. That mob you are fighting, regardless of you being 1 or 50, has the exact same amount of HP required at either level to kill it. You may ask "then why have a leveling system?" - it's to gate skill and character customization as the real progression. It's a phony progression system if there is no direct impact to the true power of your character, but only HOW it's delivered. To me, knowing this is happening behind the scenes, makes the game feel absolutely empty. Now, to be fair, there are certain nuances here that come into play at the higher levels, but the system at its core is a direct 180 from the puritan formula of growing in power. Some people argue this allows us to keep old content relevant, and also caters to the casual player who may not have all the time in the world to dedicate to the game... but that's not what these games are about, and it's not what they're about in the end. Its about standing out. Its about power.
External / Economy Impact: Level scaling also allows Blizzard to somewhat negate the allure of power leveling services. By having more flexibility in what content can be reached at each level, there's no real need to move up in level as rapidly as in previous games. Additionally it has a direct impact on the actual function of item rarity within gameplay.
Account Bound Items This one, is obviously more of a cash grab and plays into the "long-term narrative" of gameplay control on Blizzard's part. By gating most of the most powerful items behind the account-bound flag, blizzard becomes the only source of providing access to these items. Now, a lot of people are saying that the true min/max items will be rares, which are tradeable, however, from what I've seen and is likely to be the case, there will be certain legendary+ items that will have truly unique capabilities and or looks that you wont get with rares. In which case, legendaries will still be the soup du jour for most people. However, does this mean that people will play more in order to get these items? Not necessarily. In fact, it's likely the average of 2 groups: the early end-game quitters and the hardcore players (will play to the end of the title's availability), and taking that average, they probably found that there's opportunity to squeeze more money out of that average player base if they control the item market than if it were an open market with 3rd parties handling item transactions. But here's the real kicker... If you look at the open market in D2... many people bought items from 3rd party services because they didnt have the time to dedicate to playing the game to get to the level of power they wanted to be at. With level scaling being in the game, the actual impact of Rare vs Legendary and high-tier items drops significantly, so even if account bound items were tradable, the return on investment would really be minimal and not nearly as significant as buying a runeworded item. (which my bet is runes will be account bound - remind me if i'm wrong)
End-Game Sustainer: Aka Battle Pass Expansion packs - the way of the past. Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 - you finish the campaigns and unlock hell mode... what do you do? You farm. You try to get that ultimate build. You continue to grow in power. You look for ways to speed run Diablo in less than 15 minutes. Those items you're farming for - oh look, you're 1 rune away from your enigma.. time to go onto Discord and trade (or buy) for that last rune. Rinse and Repeat. LoD comes out - sweet - new content, more items, economy grows. Maybe you make a few bucks on the side selling runes while you complete the new campaign. Everyone's happy.
Now, let me introduce you to the new "expansion pack"... it's a slimmed down amount of content, hidden behind the allure of new cosmetics and quest rewards. This is just the reality we now live in when it comes to AAA titles. It's easier and more efficient for them to spit out cosmetics along with minor content updates and charge for it than it is to develop a significant amount of content and sell it for $49. The goal of the battle pass is to keep people playing and interested while also generating additional revenue. With D1 and D2, the additional revenue stopped after the game purchases, and any new revenue was bleeding out in the form of 3rd party transactions for items and services. With the new model, not only do you lock down those pesky 3rd party cash bleeds, but you also continue to generate new revenue. This model also ties nicely back to our Level Scaling approach for gameplay. Because the behind the scenes damage and enemy scaling formula remains linear, you will not run into situations where you break game balance or run into item scaling issues as significantly as say when WoW introduced Burning Crusade or Lich King. Again - it's all smoke and mirrors and those numbers are actually the same ones that you were shelling out when you were poking that first wolf in the snow with your stone dagger.
The battle pass as i mentioned above isnt necessarily bad - we'll get some new content... new cosmetics, etc. But the quality and volume of it will be limited. (my bet)
The Epic Store Cosmetic Shop This one... is probably the most anti-diablo thing ever to grace our monitors. Listen, we all get that people want to look cool, and people are willing to pay for it - they're all trying to get a piece of that fortnite magic... But for the most part... I dont feel like the diablo community is the same as those other communities. Yes, we all want our characters to look the part - going back to my "why we play" statement... part of feeling badass is looking badass. But it takes away from the individuality that is at the core of many RPG's. It takes away from the sense of accomplishment that accompanies playing this game. If anyone can just have it for a price, then why would I want it? Blizzard's likely justification here, and again, this is them putting their arms around the money/economy, is that players would just go out and buy the items from a 3rd party as it is. If we can fleece them into saying we're only selling looks, when in reality, when you combine cosmetic upgrades with the account bound limitations, the truth is: they are still selling us the entire outfit - we're just purchasing them via 2 transactions: 1. the actual items through continued, controlled gameplay and 2. a cosmetic purchase.
Open Economies - The Real End Game Whether you like concept of them or not, open markets are the true end games of all long-lived, successful, and I'll fair to say enjoyed titles. Wow classic for example would not have been as successful as it was without a fairly open economy at the end game existing in the form of GDKP's and 3rd party gold sellers (and internal / guild based transactions), and lack of level scaling / power leveling services. Diablo 2 to this day, thrives because of it's open economy, and the ability to trade high level items, and lack of level scaling. I would be willing to bet money, that if you went back in time, and restricted either of those games to the extent that D4 has done, we would see a fraction of the player base still involved in those games.
This is the reality folks... by controlling when and where you get the items, allowing you to upgrade the appearance through cosmetic enhancements, and keeping internal gameplay linear, blizzard has effectively become the entire D4 economy and 3rd party services, and controls where the money goes, all at the expense of true gameplay; Their formula is a corporate formula. I know a lot of people are having fun killing demons right now, but if you look deep and hard at what you're actually playing... are you sure this is really the future of what Diablo game development and play should look like? For me, it's not.
submitted by cybrsox to diablo4 [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:44 omgpop200147 Closet Core Nicks - Pattern Adjustment

Hello! I recently made the Closet Core Nicks pattern in View B but the finished tunic has so much extra fabric around the back, I can't wear it. I know it's supposed to be a loose fit but I've easily got 20cm of excess fabric at the back and it just looks huge. I have a very large bust so the front looks like it's supposed to; although I probably could take it in slightly at the waist here too, it's not awful as it is.
I want to make it again but reducing the amount of fabric at the back. One thought I had was to skip the gathers along the back piece and reduce the width so it matches the yoke. This will mean there should be about 18cm less width, but hopefully won't affect the overall fit around the bust and arms, which is fine. I'll then reduce the back gathered tier piece by the same amount.
Would this make sense or I completely missing something super obvious? Thank you for your help!
submitted by omgpop200147 to sewing [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:44 Bekqifyre What Remains of Edith Finch vs Devil May Cry V

Admittedly curious title...
With much coincidence, I happened to concurrently play these two games in particular and finished both within a night of each other. And since each game could be arguably said to represent one extreme of the Gameplay vs Narrative discussion, I thought I’d have a go at comparing Apples to Oranges.
So let’s start with Devil May Cry V first, simply because it’s easier.
Capcom is on a hot streak. Since Resident Evil 7 happened, which was critically acclaimed, they’ve come up with apparently one brilliant remake after another – apparently, only because I currently have no desire to dip into re-makes – culminating with yet another reported homerun in the latest Street Fighter.
Among that streak was one or two other actual new titles, and Devil May Cry V was among them. After the not-all-that-welcome outing of a DmC game, long-time fans would’ve been pleased to see the old personalities back. Dante with his wise-cracking and his attitude; Nero with his brooding and absolute claw of a right hand; the Ebony and Ivory tag-team of Trish and Lady; and Nico-…
W-wait…who?
We.. uh, pretty much got off the wrong foot, so to speak, between player and character. You’ll have to see for yourself whether you like her. I mean… eh… I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe she’s trying too hard to be the ‘bright and cheery’ and fit in with five other characters that are too serious and cool. I dunno. Eh…
Now V on the other hand (no, not the one from Cyberpunk). That’s one guy that immediately has your attention. Not least because he brings a new combat style – of fighting with Familiars – that’s so far removed from the in-yer-face style of Dante and Nero that it’s just… refreshingly different. Basically, one pet is melee, one pet is ranged. Meanwhile, V just stays far away, keeping safe, reading poems, until he’s called on to bring the finishing blow. Which is to say, your eyes have to be pretty much on two parts of the screen at once, minimum. Sort of absent-mindedly mashing some attack out while keeping V alive; or absentmindedly keeping V alive while focusing on attacking the enemy. It’s uh… interesting. It’s like you’re never all there… \cough* *cough**
To sum it up simply, the number of mechanics in play across three different main characters – that’s One V style; Nero with multiple consumable ‘Breakers’, and Dante with 4 Styles and 8 different weapons (which means Gunslinger and Swordmaster mean 4 different things each depending on hardware) – is just an absolutely mind-boggling buffet of options. Eat your heart out, action fans.
To be sure, the whole forced cycling between all three can be disruptive – you’ve barely gotten to grips with one style before you have to reset your mindset. And that’s to say nothing of Red Orb management. Do I keep saving to get stuff for V when I play as him again? Or splurge on who I currently have to control?
It’s like learning three different ‘mains’ in a fighting game. At once. Good luck remembering everything on the first run. Of course, no serious Devil May Cry fan plays it once. So probably you sort yourself out long term. On the whole though? Fantastic. No complaints.
And now the gameplay for What Remains of Edith Finch (What Remains hereafter):
You have a ‘right hand’ / Interact button. You’re also pretty much on rails with limited exploration per segment. That’s it.
That’s not fair though. That’s just Edith herself. Each of the ‘stories’ involve different mechanics which can only be described as ‘simulators’ for whatever the game wants you to feel at that point. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Lewis’ story, where it captures perfectly what the game wants you to feel.
In case it’s not apparent, one game is an aircraft-carrier sized Flagship of action games; the other is not even fit for consideration as an action game. Nonetheless, what it's supposed to do, What Remains managed to do.
But I mean, it’s like Chess-Boxing. And in our case, you fully expected the tables to turn on the other activity right?
On the narrative side, Devil May Cry V is actually not that good imo. Don’t get me wrong – the main plot points in general works. It has important lore points overall for the series. Still, remove the action, and it actually feels boring. Nothing really happens mission to mission in the style of DMC 3 or DMC 4, which are better narrative outings.
And Nico and her DMC van just makes no narrative sense whatsoever. Clearly copying Resident Evil 4’s wtf-are-you-doing-here merchant, but looking ridiculous instead… It’s not a big deal, but it’s surely just slightly irritating at least?
There are precisely two memorable points all game narratively – when you finally find out who V actually is, and at the very climax again on the back of another reveal. Even the ending is rather abrupt and anti-climactic. “Oooh! Ooh! The heroes have finally assembled at full power! What great evil will we vanquish next!? What will we do? Huh? Huh? Huh?” “Gardening. That’s what.” “Oh! Gardening! Right! Right! Makes sense! Like with devil claws and big swords and guns! Blood and thunder! Hellfire and Brimstone gardening!” “No, like Squirrel Girl.”
(I mean, who cares right? It’s Devil May Cry. On to Sons of Sparda mode! Bloody Palace! Yay!)
Now, What Remains of Edith Finch…
… I can’t tell you anything much, in case it ruins the experience. All I can say is that if you’re observant, you’d realize quite quickly that there are plenty of evidence of cut-short lives on display around the house, with some as tragic as a few years old. That doesn’t make it quite the Spencer mansion, but nonetheless kinda spooky in its own right. The game premise is about getting to know all her late family tree again and uncovering the stories of how they lived and died.
I spent the whole time wondering where they were going with this. Like, are we really just going to go through every one’s story and then…? What’s your point? Where is this going? How do we wrap up? What’s the end play? Hope it’s not gardening… And then when it hits you. It works. It wraps up beautifully.
The value of a life isn’t in whether it was long and glorious and did ten thousand different things (and had battles track from 4 previous games, and a cutscene viewer mode!) or if you were short and uniquely memorable and wasn’t meant to do all that much. Each deserved to be met on their own terms and remembered in their own right.
Maybe games are like that too.
(Hope you enjoyed that. I have to apologize to anyone coming in for the WRoEF review and finding out it’s 90% about Devil May Cry V. lol… I kind of feel like I didn’t represent What Remains of Edith Finch that well at all. Maybe you guys can help out in the comments!)
submitted by Bekqifyre to patientgamers [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:42 andrewmarkau Gambino fan here, need help with my thesis

Gambino fan here, need help with my thesis
Hey Gambino fans, I'm working on my college thesis rn and could use your help. I'm collecting information about consumer opinions with regard to music, art, and music-related art to help me make artwork based on album covers.
Posters are hand-crafted out of layers of paper and I already have a prototype for the Awaken My Love album cover (although I want to make changes)
​
Awaken, My Love!
It would help me out a lot if you could take 10-15 minutes to complete the survey for my thesis here: https://asu.questionpro.com/thesis-am . Thank you!
submitted by andrewmarkau to donaldglover [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:38 DarkJjay Four games of politics - comparing Turncoats, The King is Dead, A War of Whispers and Pax Pamir

It is said that wars are not necessarily won by the boots on the ground, but moreso the men behind their leader. The palm-greasers and rumour mongers, the flagbearers and back-stabbers; the them who do the moving and shaking from backrooms and smoking parlors. The ones with tongues that dangle heavily over others in office, like a proverbial sword of Damocles.
We'll be taking a look at four games that let you crawl into such skin; games where you're not winning by having more dudes or bigger guns, but where you're instead trying to outmanoeuvre the other players while silently (or publicly) trying to exert your influence over the winner. Let's get started!
So why these games? All these games have the players influence a central board on which units are represented and interacted with which do not belong to the players. That also usually means that players can interact with most of or all the pieces on the board, rather than only the pieces that belong to them as a player. They also all feature area control to some extent, where you are trying to determine the winning faction in specific areas in order to determine who wins overall.
The interesting thing for these games, to me at least, is that all of them (at least to some extent) necessitate players trying to figure out what the other player's plans are. They're a little abstract in that sense, as you see players move pieces around to work towards plans that often don't immediately reveal themselves. The key difference with something like chess though, besides not being a two-player head to head duel, is the fact that players can have overlapping goals. Determining to what degree you're more successfully accomplishing this shared incentive is key, as these games usually allow you to pivot in some sense - you need to be able to figure out if your plan of sticking with faction A is going to pan out, or if it's better to abandon ship and start working towards empowering faction B. This idea, the idea of factional alliances that can shift, is key to these games. It's what differentiates them from something like a social deduction game - your team usually isn't static until you've invested too deeply.
Now that we have set up that thematic and mechanical framework, let's take a look at the games!
Turncoats Turncoats is probably the lightest of these four games. Played on a cloth board that can be cinched shut into a bag of holding, Turncoats (by design) has something ancient to it, like it was recently rediscovered after having been played for hundreds of years. This game has quite a bit of similarities with The King is Dead, but there's enough differences (luckily) to consider them apart from each other.
You start the game with eight stones in your grippy little paw that represent your influence with the four factions on the board. Each turn, you can use those stones to do one of four actions, three of which affect the board by either introducing new pieces, removing pieces or by moving pieces from one space to another. The fourth space has you draw a stone from the bag, and returning one from your hand to the bag. Once all players consecutively draw and return a stone on their turn, the game ends and you score.
In a bit of genius (again, similarly to The King is Dead), empowering a faction's position on the board means you'll have to reduce your influence with that faction. Moving pieces to a stronger position costs you one of the srones in your hand, weakening your score at the end of the game. That means that you've theoretically got only eight chances to affect the board, although you've got fewer than that in practice. It turns the game into this tight little game of chicken where you're redrawing stones maybe a little earlier than you should in order to bait your opponent into investing resources that they can't really miss, hoping that instead they won't also be satisfied with the state of the board. It's a game where you've got to reflect and wonder how lucky this punk really feels.
Even if this game's presentation help make the game feel ancient, it's also made the game feel the most abstract. While the inclusion of specific symbology and the map geography help make the game approach feeling like a kind of war game, I can't help but occasionally zoom out and realize that I'm just shuffling glass beads on a piece of cloth rather than set in motion wheels within wheels from my Machiavellian ivory tower. Plus, the tie-breakers in this game are crushing. I've won more than one game because my opponent had mis-remembered one of the many tie-breakers, and that never feels good. For being the lightest and leanest of these four games, it somehow does not end up being the cleanest. That said, it is really great and I love supporting a small designer who puts these games together by hand.
Of these four games, Turncoats is the game I feel most comfortable springing on a group of people who play few or no games. Yes, the ties get a little messy sometimes, but it's easy enough to digest while being beautiful, tactile and direct. Plus, I've seen zero other games that look like this and that has to count for something.
The King is Dead, 2nd ed. The King is Dead is our next step up in rules weight from Turncoats. Still small, still pretty lean, but now we have eight small contests and a hand of cards rather than one big struggle and a hand of beads. And we've even got a narrative hook - we're trying to influence who gets to be the next king of England! Will it be a Briton, a Scot, a Welshman or a Frenchman?
You start a game of the King is Dead by giving each player an identical set of cards to play, along with two public cubes in one of the three colours in the game (red for Britons, blue for Scots and yellow for the Welsh). You then shuffle a set of eight cards and deal then along the board to see in what order you will be resolving the necessary power struggles to see who will be the king! On your turn, you can either play one of the cards in your hand (all but one of which will influence the distribution of cubes on the board, while the remaining one changes the order in which you resolve power struggles) or pass. When all players pass, you resolve the contested region by looking to see which of the three factions is most powerful. If there's a winner, you place a disk of that colour in that region - it's now locked and worth one point of influence for that colour at the end of the game. If there's a tie, you instead place a black foreign invasion disk in that region, indicating that the French are using the discord in that region to make inroads into conquering the island! When all power struggles are done, you either look to see who has the most cubes of the most powerful faction in front of them, or whoever has the most sets of cubes in all three colours in front of them if the French invaded. And there's a bunch of tie-breakers too, more on that later.
So right off the bat, this game touches on a lot of similar mechanics as Turncoats, especially when it comes to taking actions. Both games have you sacrificing your win potential in one way in order to ensure you'll be able to win at all. In this game it's because of a rule I haven't talked about yet - whenever you play a card, you also take a cube off the board and add it to your court. Being tied to played cards means that nobody will ever have more than ten, as you'll never play more than eight cards in a game (and you of course start with two in yourp court), making every choice in this game deliciously agonizing.
And that agony is where the game distinguishes itself. You only have eight chances to affect the game, and (except for one action) those will all be different. This means you'll want to pass as often as possible, but you also don't want to give the whole game over to your opponents as they will just sculpt the game to goozle you as badly as they can. This dynamic usually forces players into a position where they are biding their time for certain power struggles that look like they're never going to go their way while playing a flurry of cards on a struggle that looks like it's the key to their kingdom. This tension is exacerbated by the fact that each player's hand is identical (in the regular game), meaning that you would know exactly what they could do next if only you had paid more attention.
Compared to Turncoats, this game has a more clearly defined feel of politics. That's partially aided by the artwork and graphic design, and partially by the theme. The game feels historic in its presentation and execution, but immersion is aided by the fact that this conflict has shown up in popular culture as well; people who don't know the War of the Roses can just transpose Game of Thrones onto this game and get exactly the same feeling out of it. There's also more political manoeuvring here because your affiliations are public. True motives are secret and people pivot HARD when the faction they were secretly gunning for gets locked out of contention. It's a much more... I don't necessarily want to say stressful, but definitely more high-pressured experience. It's the rare type of game where you get given the choice to not act on your turn and even that feels awful.
That said, there is some criticism to be levied against it as well. The early turns of The King is Dead, while being consequential, don't always feel like they matter. It's much easier to watch the board develop early on and base your strategy on that, even if in practice you need to make every card count which leads to situations where people feel locked into the late game without really understanding what they could have done differently. This is also the most tactical of all the games on here. That's not a problem for me personally, but I've played with people who hated this game because things would always change too quickly for them to make any actual plans. And lastly - the tie-breakers. More than once has a player lost a game at my table because they misunderstood the tie-breaker, and I can't seem to find a way to teach it without ambiguity. It sucks to see someone play a blinder only for them to realize they were playing to a different set of rules from the rest of the players. For a game that's so svelt and clean otherwise, this particular bit of messiness sticks out like a sore thumb.
That said though, The King is Dead is a very easy recommendation. Not as accessible to true beginners as Turncoats, The King is Dead is still really accessible and filled with good, agonizing decisions. It's a classic in my eyes, very easy to recommend.
A War of Whispers Taking a step up in both difficulty and size, we arrive at A War of Whispers! Another game of political manipulation, this game explicitly casts you and your compatriots as the wormtongues in this fight for power. Five factions, a circular board, clever cardplay and plenty of intrigue to be found.
As stated, you'll be playing the role of advisors to five nations who are at war. At the start of each round, you all place two advisors on spaces that correspond to different actions you can take with each of the five factions. These can include rallying troops, combat, movement or some other action that comes with a unique spin put on it by each of the factions. The goal here is to influence the board in such a way that the factions you care about have a strong board presence while the ones you don't care about have a small one, seeing that each faction scores you points. These points range from four points for each area they control to minus one point for each area they control. Most points at the end of the game wins!
Truthfully I enjoy A War of Whispers the least of these four games, even if it does do some very clever things. The action selection mechanism is very clever and has a fun push-your-luck element to it. All the actions are resolved in a set order (as indicated on the boarder around the board), and each time you reach an action that has a player's marker on it they get to do that action. However, if there are unchosen actions to the left of their marker, they get to do those actions as well. This leads to some fun jockeying of positions when choosing actions, and blocking other players is a big part of this game. The asymmetric factions are cool, although they're a bit of a double-edged sword.
The cool thing about each of the factions is that they're all good at specific things. One faction is good at fighting or mobilizing, one is good at mustering and another has action cards that make them powerful at wrestling control of fortifications from a faction's greedy hands. The problem that I run into here is that factions that take their turn earlier in the resolution phase are inherently weaker than those who act later, as the factions that act later can see how the dust settles before having to act. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem of players get to place their own bets at the start of the game, but these are instead placed randomly. The thing I like about both Turncoats, The King is Dead and Pax Pamir (which we'll talk about next) is that you have a very high degree of control over who you're supporting, but this is not the case here. Players do have an opportunity to swap their faction tokens (controlling how they want to score those factions at the end of the game), but that isn't free - you can only swap tokens you haven't revealed, and you can only swap unrevealed tokens.
Thematically it makes a lot of sense to make swapping tokens (and therefore allegiances) be costly - the game of politics bears a heavy price. My problem is that this isn't fun. Putting it bluntly, this game is hard enough as is. It's difficult to suss out exactly what your opponents are doing (seeing that there's now five factions to contend with), and this system makes improvising very difficult. So, this makes it entirely possible that other players will just kneecap you for the entire game or for you to be dealt a set of tokens that will just never win. It's frustrating is what I'm saying. A War of Whispers does a lot of very cool things, but as a game of factional politics I don't like the fact that it just sometimes offers you setups that you can't win and then punishes you for trying to get out of it. But, to be fair, that could be the side of me that's much more tactically rather than strategically-minded speaking.
And that's probably important to say: I flourish much more in tactical games rather than purely (or primarily) strategic ones. And that important to note, because A War of Whispers does give you a lot to strategize with. You get to see the actions your opponents are taking before you take yours, and table-talk is actively encouraged. There's also no hidden info except for the limited number of cards that players have in their hands (most of which do the same things if they belong to a specific faction) and combat is deterministic. This means that players who are able to plan ahead and band together with other players will have a much better time with this than I've had so far. Plus, choosing the right moment to swap tokens is most definitely key to doing well - it can even provide some delicious drama when done especially timely. I just feel that this game isn't necessarily one that I will gravitate to in the future. I'd much rather play this next game if given the chance.
Pax Pamir - 2nd edition And we end on the heaviest and (in my opinion) prettiest of these four games, Pax Pamir. Although The King is Dead is arguably about real-world history, Pax Pamir is the only one of these games that genuinely feels historic. Based on The Great Game, Pax Pamir explicitly aims to model a real-life political conflict. With that comes a lot of baggage; historical, cultural and ludological all at once. Pax Pamir is the hardest game in this list by far, and will also be the most abstractly discussed by force of necessity.
In Pax Pamir, you play an Afghani tribe during the time of The Great Game, a time period where Afghanistan was thrown into a power struggle between Russia, England and itself. You publicly ally your tribe with one of these three factions at the start of the game, hoping to position yourself favourably when one of the game's dominance checks rolls around. Pamir has a card market that forms the engine that the game runs on - it is both its engine and its enigma. The core of the game is simple though; players get twicely buy a card from the market (a Pax-series staple) or play a card from their hand. Played cards come equipped with symbols that can trigger when the card is played or as an action on your turn. These actions tend to affect the board by placing your tribes on regions, neutral blocks that either represent roads or armies of the faction you support, or by giving you some much needed spending money. There's a lot more going on in this game, much more than I can really do justice in this paragraph, but suffice it to say that the cards are where the magic happens in Pax Pamir.
But what about the politics? Pax Pamir, like The King is Dead, has you wear your allegiance on your sleeve. It's emblazoned on your cards, it's smacked on your player wheel and it is pinned on the prizes you've killed to curry favour with local and foreign warlords alike. It's a game about politicking in slow motion, almost; there's a much bigger sense of audiences and of greasing palms than in the other games. Part of that is due to length, of course, but it's also because most big plays in Pax Pamir don't happen out of nowhere. They're stemming from parts being put into place until the moment where the jaws snap shut; it happens slowly then suddenly all at once.
That said, this game really is about politics. It's also the only one of the games on this list where politicking with your opponents is even somewhat of a viable option. Bribing other players is as much of a thing as waving a tax is an incentive to do what someone wants. A single coin really can make all the difference in an economy as tight as Pax Pamir, so talking to the table is essential. By the same token, pivoting is a real option here as well. Allegiances can be discarded like dirty laundry when the tides of war turn, with as much or as little drama as is necessary. It can be as simple as letting a new alliance join your court, or as dramatic as an assassination attempt on someone in your own court. Where switching allegiances felt utilitarian (or sometimes even futilistic) in the other games I've talked about, here it feels both frivolous and monumental. Frivolous because it's potentially both temporary and easy, and monumental because it warps the remaining landscape around it nonetheless. It's a fascinating look at what foreign bonds and geopolitics actually look like.
Having said that, Pax Pamir is genuinely not for everyone. It is the hardest sell on this list, I feel, both in terms of cost and rules weight. While I personally feel that the product is worth the price, it really isn't cheap. That's mostly important if you don't have a group that's willing to put in the muscle for something that's genuinely hard. The game can't fare on looks alone; if your gaming group gets glassy eyes at the notion of considering the consequences of shifts in political climates, this is not for you. Then there's the difficulty. I've played Pax Pamir about eight times, and I'm only sure I've played it correctly, like, twice. Most of those were solo, so it's not too bad, but that's still not great considering the time I'm asking other people to invest in this. Playing improperly is much less of a problem if what you're playing is quick; people are much less willing to forgive that when they just lost a three hour game because you forgot that losing your political cards in a region also means you remove all your tribes from that region. It's an investment is what I'm saying, and one I can't promise will pay off.
Truly though, Pax Pamir is great. It's not my favourite Pax game (that would currently be Pax Renaissance), but it is one of my favourite solo games and arguably the best of these four games if your group can deal with actual, genuine and tremendous weight.
So what would I like you to take away from this? If the idea of playing a party outside of a power struggle who influences the outcome appeals to you, there's a bunch of options for you to choose from! If you want something relatively light, portable, beautiful and unique, get Turncoats. If you want something quick, tense, more classical in design yet still accessible, get The King is Dead. If you want something medium-weight, strategic and are willing to ride the waves of outragious fortune, get A War of Whispers. And if you want something heavy, singular, beautiful and truly historic, get Pax Pamir.
That's my TED talk, thank you for reading.
Other notes I think it's only fair of me to state that I've played A War of Whispers the least of all these games. All the others I've played, like, at least seven times, but I've only played AWoW twice. I just don't really like it all that much, but I do want to be transparent in why that is.
Some of these games might be hard to find at retailers, but you can get them on the websites of either the publisher or the designer. Turncoats, as far as I know, is only really available on Milda Mathilda's website. She uses a Google Form to process orders, which seems insane to me but works for her, and I had to wait about six months for my copy. That said, I feel it was most definitely worth the wait.
If you have any titles of this ilk that you think I should try, let me know! I've obviously missed games, but I'm always interested in trying new things of this ilk.
Lastly, I make no apologies for the reference I used when talking about Pamir. They were the right words in the right place.
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2023.06.07 21:36 esk1mo3 Seeking Career Advice In Google Cloud

Hey There!
I am not sure if this is the place for these types of questions. I’ve lurked in this subreddit a while, (mainly looking at technical advice and community support) and feel like there may be someone out here that could help/give me some good advice.
Apologies if this is incorrect/not in keeping with the sub!
I am a 29 year old looking to make the switch from construction project management to Google Cloud Migration Consultant in England.
I started working in construction from school, working on site for a year then progressing on to site management to project management (roughly 8 years project management experience)
Last year I began my journey into cloud computing to help my company transition their systems into the modern world.
With no technical people in the business and no knowledge of the cloud environment I enrolled myself on the Simplilearn Post Graduate Cloud computing program (which thankfully my company sponsored!)
The programme was heavy in cloud infrastructure, mainly AWS and Azure. 12 hours on the weekends 1-3 Hours after work in the week for 5/6 months.
I caught the bug and really enjoy the cloud environment, challenges and potential in cloud computing. After I had finished (and passed) my course I cleared the AWS Solutions Architect, then spent a few months learning GCP independently and managed to pass the PCA. I also have my PMP exam in a week and expect/hope to pass (currently sitting at 85-90% in mock tests)
I Find my current role in construction quite limited, with a lack of challenge/dynamism and see my future in cloud computing somewhere.
I understand and appreciate that the CPA / SAA don’t mean I am technically ‘technical’ and only years of experience will be good for those types of roles.
It’s not my goal to be a SA, but feel the studying and my research have given me a good base knowledge and understanding of core concepts and a deeper insight in to how GCP / Cloud computing works.
My main skills are project management, people/stakeholder management, team integration, communications, emotional intelligence, and picking up new skills/technologies fairly quickly. I really enjoy working within teams, meeting, engaging with new people, managing relationships and feel like the cloud migration consultant role and my skillset go hand in hand.
I wanted to ask if anyone here has made a similar transition or if there are any googlers with advice on possible next steps or alternartive roles they think would be a good fit ?
Any help or advice will be really appreciated.
Best Regards,
Esk1mo
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2023.06.07 21:32 IvorFreyrsson The Necromancer's Bond, Ch. 22

[First] Prev/ Next
“What?” came her whispered reply.
“Katira, I know way too much about all this for it to be a mere coincidence. Maybe that’s all clairsentience is. A reincarnated soul whose work wasn’t done, and they decided to come around again, only this time, with a little head-start. One of the two lives on in me, and I’d be willing to bet it was your former Master. Her partner died before you met her, and only you would know these things, correct?” Katira nodded her head, and I pressed on. “Okay. I’m also betting that this took place more than a hundred years ago, judging by the amount of earth and growth on this cairn, and due to the nature of societal acceptance of homosexuality. Them keeping their relationship a secret, way out here in the middle of nowhere, would be far easier than the two of them living together in a town. Am I right?” I asked
“Nearly one hundred fifty years, yes. As humans reckon these things, it was around 1875. Not long after your stupid civil war. My Master had lost her mother to typhoid, and her father to the war. She and her best friend decided to attempt to homestead not too far from here, and they eventually fell in love. They were only seventeen at the time, and most of the eligible young men in town had succumbed to the war or to injuries they sustained afterwards. My Master was a hardy, resilient woman. You would have liked her, Stu. She was built like me, and was bullheaded as a mule.” Katira laughed softly, wiping away tears. “Anyway, they built a cabin not terribly far from this spot, and lived for several years together, until the events you described. My Master was beside herself with grief, and nearly ended her time here on several occasions. Until one day, she chanced upon what looked like an old cellar out here in the fields.
“It was there that she found my little body and attempted to bury me. You should have seen her fright when, instead of a pile of bones that fell apart, she had a skeletal kitten bounding around her ankles. We bonded in a similar manner to Joaquin and Shutan. She fell onto the cellar, cut her arm, and the blood dripped onto me. She went on to become an amazing Necromancer in her own right. You two share the same essence type, as well. Huh. I wonder why I never made the connection before,” she concluded softly.
I walked over and wiped the tears from her soft, shimmery face. “Why would you even think to do so? You’ve dealt with all but the most rare of essences, right?” I asked, receiving a nod in turn. “There’s no shame in not recognizing an extremely old pattern. Especially when there’s no real reason to suspect anything. You had already explained away my knowledge, and that should’ve been the end of it.
“Let’s get the last of the reagents and head back. Now that we know where this is, we can come and pay our respects after my Growth. Any time you’re up for it. In the meantime, we say nothing and hint at nothing. My description of their last days could be chalked up to a lucky guess. A very lucky guess, but a guess nonetheless. Unless and until we have some concrete proof, we keep this to ourselves. Not a word even to the guild. Sound good to you?” I asked.
Katira nodded, and I turned and knelt by the old grave. I laid a hand on the topmost stone, and whispered “Not even the stars.” I took a small bouquet of the tiny blue flowers and stood, seeing a weeping dragoness behind me.
“It is you, Bethany. You’re in there, and I know it. I look different, but I’m still the same Katira. I still love you,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, what? Bethany? Is that your former Master’s name? What are you talking about?” I asked, concerned.
“What you said when you laid your hand on the grave. Do you recall?”
I nodded, “Yeah. I said ‘Not even the stars’. It just felt right. I dunno why,” I replied.
“That’s what Bethany used to tell her partner, Rose. ‘Not even the stars could shine as brightly as her eyes’, is what she told me. You hold her soul within you. It explains everything to me. Your apparent skill, your oddly specific knowledge, and your way with people. It doesn’t explain your intuition, but that could just be an amalgam of your spirits and your broad intellect. She always lamented her inability to be more creative,” she explained, taking my hand in hers.
“Well. That’s a thing, then. I’m still me, Katira. Even if I have Bethany’s soul, you’re still dealing with Stu. Remember that, please,” I told her.
“Absolutely, Master. This just brings new possibilities to light, is all,” Katira said, sniffling. “My Master, Bethany is gone. I know this. However, knowing that some part of her lives on is a great comfort. That’s all,” she said softly. Katira stepped forward and took my hands in hers. “I know you’re Stu. I know you’re my Master. I can’t forget it. You gave me this form, and I cherish it. Just like I cherish you. You’re going to be my final Master, and I can’t wait to spend an eternity with you,” she said, giving my hands a gentle squeeze.
“Alright, then. As long as we are clear. Are you ready to head back?” I asked gently.
Katira nodded, and we started back off towards the cave. It took us another three hours, but we made it back. The others had been there for a few hours by the time we returned. All three had begun the distillation process by the time we arrived, and had placed their squirrels in the appropriate locations.
“Excellent job, Initiates! I’m glad to see you have taken the initiative to begin your reanimations. Now, it isn’t a guarantee that you will be successful. Be prepared for a messy failure, otherwise. Upon a success, even a minor one, your squirrel will sit up and make vocalizations at you. In the event of a minor success, this is all that will happen. If it is anything more, you can give it a command. It might understand it and act. Just make sure it is a simple one. You can command it to simply die, if you wish. It is up to you. Now, who got here first?” she asked.
“I did, Instructor,” Robert said.
“Excellent. Good job, Initiate Grimes. How long after you got set up did the next one arrive?”
“About an hour, I think and Joaquin was a few minutes after her. That was three hours ago. I think mine is nearly done,” Robert explained.
“Good. While Initiate Merideth gets set up, we will discuss what comes after a successful reanimation,” Katira began.
I turned and began the process of removing the petals from the phlox, depositing them in the pot. I mostly tuned out the discussion they were having, my mind reeling from the events of the day.
If I didn’t hold a reincarnated soul, how else would I be able to do what I do without even thinking about it? How else would I know the stuff I know without having had the instruction? How did I know who was buried beneath that cairn of stones, and how she died? Was it even my soul that was reincarnated? Or, had Bethany’s spirit hung around waiting to impart knowledge upon one lonely Necromancer?
These questions and more rolled around my head, my body moving on autopilot. I was just about to reach into the bag containing the nettles when Katira grabbed my wrist, jerking me from my reverie.
“Initiate!”
“Huh? Wha?”
“Initiate, I’ve been trying to get your attention for a bit. You almost reached into the bag that has the nettles bare-handed. What’s gotten into you?” she asked, her concern evident.
I simply looked into her eyes, my own face a blank mask, and she sighed softly. “Okay. I understand. It’s about what we talked about before, isn’t it?” she asked softly. I nodded slowly. “I take it you’ve never handled nettles, have you?” I shook my head. “Let me show you. In fact, gather around, everyone. Nettles are a painful plant, and you may have to handle them at some point. Let me show you how to deal with them,” Katira announced.
The rest of the group came over and sat while Katira taught us how to handle the irritating plant. Once she demonstrated the process, I tried it once, and even though I’d succeeded, I figured I’d not like to attempt it again. Instead, I took my multitool and pocket knife, clamped onto the stem, and sliced the leaves into the pot. Then, for good measure, I sectioned up the stem and dropped it in, as well. In went the snake skin, water and three drops of my blood. I set the fire, and waited for something to happen.
As luck would have it something did happen. We all heard Robert’s fire go out with a pop, and turned to see the droplet of essence-infused oil spill onto the squirrel. As with our message stones, nothing was spilled, it all just absorbed into the squirrel, and we watched with bated breath.
At first, nothing happened. The squirrel sat motionless on the cold stone slab. After a few moments, however, we all saw the digits on the left forelimb twitch. Collectively, we moved back, as a crazed squirrel was as fearsome as it was small. It took a breath, then a second. Slowly, it sat up, turned its black, unblinking eyes towards Robert and began chittering.
“Try it, Initiate Grimes,” Katira whispered.
Robert cleared his throat and swallowed. “Go outside the cave, and dig a hole big enough for you to lie in beside the first tree you see,” he commanded.
We watched as the squirrel cocked its head to the side and hopped down. It bounded drunkenly out of the cave, and after a short search, began to dig a hole.
“Excellent job, Initiate. Why did you tell it to do that?” Katira asked.
“I felt terrible for it. I think it should be put to rest,” he said quietly.
“So it is digging its own grave? Interesting. Go and tend to it. It may not be able to finish,” Katira replied.
Robert got up and went outside to tend to his squirrel, and the rest of us sat back and chatted for a bit.
“Senpai? What took you so long to find your reagents?” Morita-san asked.
“Well, as our Instructor specified this morning, I require very specific reagents to even have a chance at making this work, and they weren’t easy to find. I had to have phlox, nettles and a shed skin. Phlox were those tiny blue flowers, and they weren’t easy to find. Especially as I had no idea what they looked like until I opened my Grimoire. I knew what nettles looked like, and everyone from around here knows what a shed skin looks like, I think. They just weren’t easy to get. However, after I found the nettles, the other two just kinda happened. The snake skin was tangled around some weeds in a field, and the phlox were growing by an outcropping of stone. We had to go something like five miles from the cave. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need to eat something soon. I just had a small snack around noon or so,” I explained.
“By the time your still finishes, it will be time for dinner, anyway. I’d suggest holding off, if you can,” Katira said.
“I’ll try, but if I start getting the sugar shakes or acting belligerent, I’ll need a small snack again. We really don’t want that,” I said.
Robert came back, looking somber and somewhat sad. “It’s done. I…I told it to die, and it closed its eyes and just stopped moving. It seemed happy,” he said, taking a seat.
“Initiate Grimes, I want you to understand that all you did was reanimate the body of a squirrel. It had no soul, and therefore wasn’t the same creature I killed three days ago. It was more or less a biological machine that used the energy of the reagents you selected and your essence as fuel. It would have eventually stopped moving on its own. You could re energize it with your essence, but that would serve to bond it tighter to you, which is not a situation we want here. You have done well thus far, and I’m proud of you. We all are,” she told the younger man.
“She is right, Master. You have grown in skill, and as a person. Rather quickly, I might add. As such, I would say that your own Growth is no more than a month away. Once we get home, you should alert your job to your upcoming illness,” Yin grumbled.
“I can’t do that, bud. I can’t plan to be sick. Instructor? Do the symptoms all come on at once, or are they in stages?” Robert asked.
“You will most likely get the headaches first. If you can function through them, I would call your job at that point, and tell them that you are sick, and it is unknown as to how long it will last. Hopefully, you will be able to maintain your job after you are done Growing,” Katira replied.
“I can form human arms and hands for the time it takes to send a message on your phone, Master. I could also call for any number of other familiars and Necromancers to help, should you need it,” Yin said reassuringly.
Robert seemed satisfied with this answer, and began to clean his equipment. He had just finished when, with twin pops, we heard both Joaquin and Morita-san’s fires go out. All heads turned to watch the reaction complete.
Both squirrels were doused with the oil/essence mixture, and we watched as it was absorbed into the bodies of the squirrels.
Both squirrels twitched and sat up, turning their heads towards their creators and began chittering.
Morita-san nodded at Joaquin, and he cleared his throat. “Venha aqui, esquilo,” he said.
The squirrel shakily stood and took two steps before collapsing. We all watched in horror as it continued to crawl forward, leaving its back half behind. Joaquin began to panic and scooted back.
“Release it, Initiate Madras!”
“Morra, esquilo! Morra!” the young man cried out. The squirrel shuddered and heaved out its remaining breath, one clawed paw outstretched towards Joaquin. As it did, the rest of its entrails oozed out from its body, coupled with a brown slime.
“I will explain in a moment, Initiate Madras. Initiate Morita-san, it is your turn,” Katira said.
Morita-san swallowed, staring at the halves of the squirrel on the cavern floor. “私に近づいて、リス。” she said, her eyes never leaving the squirrel.
Her squirrel never moved. It sat there, blinking. “Instructor? What do I do? It’s not moving. Just….blinking,” Morita-san said quietly.
“Try rewording what you just said.”
“ここに来て、リス。” Morita-san said. The squirrel bounded over to her, and began to inspect her shoes.
“Excellent job, Morita-san. It seems that your reagents harmonized rather well with both you and your subject. This is why it is acting more like a normal, living creature and not the automaton Initiate Grimes produced. There is nothing wrong with your results, Initiate Grimes. You’ll just need to try a different combination of reagents, is all. Initiate Morita-san happened to chance upon the right triad for her for this experiment.
“The squirrel is yours to do with as you wish, Initiate Morita-san. Congratulations to the three of you. You have successfully reanimated your squirrels,” Katira said happily.
The others smiled and seemed happy. Morita-san looked at her squirrel and cocked her head to the side. “Should I name him?” she asked aloud.
“There is nothing prohibiting that, Initiate.”
“I shall call you Daisuke,” she said to the squirrel. “この死んだリスを片付けて、ダイスケ。” she commanded, and the squirrel bounded over to Joaquin’s partial reanimation, and began to cart the remains outside.
“Now, as for your squirrel, Initiate Madras. It was apparently infected by a parasite which had been eating it from the inside. Some sort of intestinal worm, I would say. When you reanimated it, the parasite was immediately destroyed, and likely aided the decomposition. There is no shame in this, and none of us could have known it was there. It is the risk we take when we choose a creature for reanimation.
“This is why a skeleton was chosen for reanimation more often than not in the past. There was no risk of parasitic infection, little risk of a messy failure, and in the event the energies used ran out, it would simply fall to the ground in a pile, ready to be used again. However, one needs a distinct grasp of anatomy for it, because in the event you put it together wrong, it won’t move correctly,” Katira said.
“So, wait. We could potentially Frankenstein ourselves a servant together?” Robert asked.
“Where do you think Mary Shelley got the idea, Initiate Grimes?” Katira returned with an enigmatic smile.
Robert sat there, his mouth agape.
“Close your mouth, Initiate. You might catch a fly, otherwise.”
We all laughed as Robert closed his mouth with a click. He shook his head and sat beside his cubbyhole in thought. Morita-san and Joaquin were talking animatedly in their respective languages, aided by their familiars.
I sat beside my equipment, watching the oil collect in the reservoir. It looked a little different than the others’ did.
“Instructor?” I asked, waving her over.
“Yes?”
“My essence-infused oil looks different to theirs. Theirs was green, and mine is…well, it’s kind of an orangey-pink. Is something wrong?” I asked with concern.
“Hmm. I’m not sure. I’ve never seen a reanimation essence appear this color. Yin? Shutan? Oiwa? Would you three come here, please?” she called out.
The three familiars approached my station curiously. Katira turned to them, gesturing at my equipment. “Have any of you ever seen this color in a reanimation essence before?” she asked.
“Exactly once,” Shutan said, stroking his bony jaw. “Stu? Yours is a Multiplying essence, correct?” he asked, receiving a nod. “Then, I will reveal nothing, save this: This will be interesting.” He walked away, shaking his head, and I could swear I saw a smirk on his skeletal countenance.
“What? Interesting? I’m not sure I like interesting. Wait a minute! What do you mean, interesting?” I called after him, receiving no inkling of acknowledgement.
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2023.06.07 21:32 IvorFreyrsson The Necromancer's Bond, Ch. 22

“What?” came her whispered reply.
“Katira, I know way too much about all this for it to be a mere coincidence. Maybe that’s all clairsentience is. A reincarnated soul whose work wasn’t done, and they decided to come around again, only this time, with a little head-start. One of the two lives on in me, and I’d be willing to bet it was your former Master. Her partner died before you met her, and only you would know these things, correct?” Katira nodded her head, and I pressed on. “Okay. I’m also betting that this took place more than a hundred years ago, judging by the amount of earth and growth on this cairn, and due to the nature of societal acceptance of homosexuality. Them keeping their relationship a secret, way out here in the middle of nowhere, would be far easier than the two of them living together in a town. Am I right?” I asked
“Nearly one hundred fifty years, yes. As humans reckon these things, it was around 1875. Not long after your stupid civil war. My Master had lost her mother to typhoid, and her father to the war. She and her best friend decided to attempt to homestead not too far from here, and they eventually fell in love. They were only seventeen at the time, and most of the eligible young men in town had succumbed to the war or to injuries they sustained afterwards. My Master was a hardy, resilient woman. You would have liked her, Stu. She was built like me, and was bullheaded as a mule.” Katira laughed softly, wiping away tears. “Anyway, they built a cabin not terribly far from this spot, and lived for several years together, until the events you described. My Master was beside herself with grief, and nearly ended her time here on several occasions. Until one day, she chanced upon what looked like an old cellar out here in the fields.
“It was there that she found my little body and attempted to bury me. You should have seen her fright when, instead of a pile of bones that fell apart, she had a skeletal kitten bounding around her ankles. We bonded in a similar manner to Joaquin and Shutan. She fell onto the cellar, cut her arm, and the blood dripped onto me. She went on to become an amazing Necromancer in her own right. You two share the same essence type, as well. Huh. I wonder why I never made the connection before,” she concluded softly.
I walked over and wiped the tears from her soft, shimmery face. “Why would you even think to do so? You’ve dealt with all but the most rare of essences, right?” I asked, receiving a nod in turn. “There’s no shame in not recognizing an extremely old pattern. Especially when there’s no real reason to suspect anything. You had already explained away my knowledge, and that should’ve been the end of it.
“Let’s get the last of the reagents and head back. Now that we know where this is, we can come and pay our respects after my Growth. Any time you’re up for it. In the meantime, we say nothing and hint at nothing. My description of their last days could be chalked up to a lucky guess. A very lucky guess, but a guess nonetheless. Unless and until we have some concrete proof, we keep this to ourselves. Not a word even to the guild. Sound good to you?” I asked.
Katira nodded, and I turned and knelt by the old grave. I laid a hand on the topmost stone, and whispered “Not even the stars.” I took a small bouquet of the tiny blue flowers and stood, seeing a weeping dragoness behind me.
“It is you, Bethany. You’re in there, and I know it. I look different, but I’m still the same Katira. I still love you,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, what? Bethany? Is that your former Master’s name? What are you talking about?” I asked, concerned.
“What you said when you laid your hand on the grave. Do you recall?”
I nodded, “Yeah. I said ‘Not even the stars’. It just felt right. I dunno why,” I replied.
“That’s what Bethany used to tell her partner, Rose. ‘Not even the stars could shine as brightly as her eyes’, is what she told me. You hold her soul within you. It explains everything to me. Your apparent skill, your oddly specific knowledge, and your way with people. It doesn’t explain your intuition, but that could just be an amalgam of your spirits and your broad intellect. She always lamented her inability to be more creative,” she explained, taking my hand in hers.
“Well. That’s a thing, then. I’m still me, Katira. Even if I have Bethany’s soul, you’re still dealing with Stu. Remember that, please,” I told her.
“Absolutely, Master. This just brings new possibilities to light, is all,” Katira said, sniffling. “My Master, Bethany is gone. I know this. However, knowing that some part of her lives on is a great comfort. That’s all,” she said softly. Katira stepped forward and took my hands in hers. “I know you’re Stu. I know you’re my Master. I can’t forget it. You gave me this form, and I cherish it. Just like I cherish you. You’re going to be my final Master, and I can’t wait to spend an eternity with you,” she said, giving my hands a gentle squeeze.
“Alright, then. As long as we are clear. Are you ready to head back?” I asked gently.
Katira nodded, and we started back off towards the cave. It took us another three hours, but we made it back. The others had been there for a few hours by the time we returned. All three had begun the distillation process by the time we arrived, and had placed their squirrels in the appropriate locations.
“Excellent job, Initiates! I’m glad to see you have taken the initiative to begin your reanimations. Now, it isn’t a guarantee that you will be successful. Be prepared for a messy failure, otherwise. Upon a success, even a minor one, your squirrel will sit up and make vocalizations at you. In the event of a minor success, this is all that will happen. If it is anything more, you can give it a command. It might understand it and act. Just make sure it is a simple one. You can command it to simply die, if you wish. It is up to you. Now, who got here first?” she asked.
“I did, Instructor,” Robert said.
“Excellent. Good job, Initiate Grimes. How long after you got set up did the next one arrive?”
“About an hour, I think and Joaquin was a few minutes after her. That was three hours ago. I think mine is nearly done,” Robert explained.
“Good. While Initiate Merideth gets set up, we will discuss what comes after a successful reanimation,” Katira began.
I turned and began the process of removing the petals from the phlox, depositing them in the pot. I mostly tuned out the discussion they were having, my mind reeling from the events of the day.
If I didn’t hold a reincarnated soul, how else would I be able to do what I do without even thinking about it? How else would I know the stuff I know without having had the instruction? How did I know who was buried beneath that cairn of stones, and how she died? Was it even my soul that was reincarnated? Or, had Bethany’s spirit hung around waiting to impart knowledge upon one lonely Necromancer?
These questions and more rolled around my head, my body moving on autopilot. I was just about to reach into the bag containing the nettles when Katira grabbed my wrist, jerking me from my reverie.
“Initiate!”
“Huh? Wha?”
“Initiate, I’ve been trying to get your attention for a bit. You almost reached into the bag that has the nettles bare-handed. What’s gotten into you?” she asked, her concern evident.
I simply looked into her eyes, my own face a blank mask, and she sighed softly. “Okay. I understand. It’s about what we talked about before, isn’t it?” she asked softly. I nodded slowly. “I take it you’ve never handled nettles, have you?” I shook my head. “Let me show you. In fact, gather around, everyone. Nettles are a painful plant, and you may have to handle them at some point. Let me show you how to deal with them,” Katira announced.
The rest of the group came over and sat while Katira taught us how to handle the irritating plant. Once she demonstrated the process, I tried it once, and even though I’d succeeded, I figured I’d not like to attempt it again. Instead, I took my multitool and pocket knife, clamped onto the stem, and sliced the leaves into the pot. Then, for good measure, I sectioned up the stem and dropped it in, as well. In went the snake skin, water and three drops of my blood. I set the fire, and waited for something to happen.
As luck would have it something did happen. We all heard Robert’s fire go out with a pop, and turned to see the droplet of essence-infused oil spill onto the squirrel. As with our message stones, nothing was spilled, it all just absorbed into the squirrel, and we watched with bated breath.
At first, nothing happened. The squirrel sat motionless on the cold stone slab. After a few moments, however, we all saw the digits on the left forelimb twitch. Collectively, we moved back, as a crazed squirrel was as fearsome as it was small. It took a breath, then a second. Slowly, it sat up, turned its black, unblinking eyes towards Robert and began chittering.
“Try it, Initiate Grimes,” Katira whispered.
Robert cleared his throat and swallowed. “Go outside the cave, and dig a hole big enough for you to lie in beside the first tree you see,” he commanded.
We watched as the squirrel cocked its head to the side and hopped down. It bounded drunkenly out of the cave, and after a short search, began to dig a hole.
“Excellent job, Initiate. Why did you tell it to do that?” Katira asked.
“I felt terrible for it. I think it should be put to rest,” he said quietly.
“So it is digging its own grave? Interesting. Go and tend to it. It may not be able to finish,” Katira replied.
Robert got up and went outside to tend to his squirrel, and the rest of us sat back and chatted for a bit.
“Senpai? What took you so long to find your reagents?” Morita-san asked.
“Well, as our Instructor specified this morning, I require very specific reagents to even have a chance at making this work, and they weren’t easy to find. I had to have phlox, nettles and a shed skin. Phlox were those tiny blue flowers, and they weren’t easy to find. Especially as I had no idea what they looked like until I opened my Grimoire. I knew what nettles looked like, and everyone from around here knows what a shed skin looks like, I think. They just weren’t easy to get. However, after I found the nettles, the other two just kinda happened. The snake skin was tangled around some weeds in a field, and the phlox were growing by an outcropping of stone. We had to go something like five miles from the cave. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need to eat something soon. I just had a small snack around noon or so,” I explained.
“By the time your still finishes, it will be time for dinner, anyway. I’d suggest holding off, if you can,” Katira said.
“I’ll try, but if I start getting the sugar shakes or acting belligerent, I’ll need a small snack again. We really don’t want that,” I said.
Robert came back, looking somber and somewhat sad. “It’s done. I…I told it to die, and it closed its eyes and just stopped moving. It seemed happy,” he said, taking a seat.
“Initiate Grimes, I want you to understand that all you did was reanimate the body of a squirrel. It had no soul, and therefore wasn’t the same creature I killed three days ago. It was more or less a biological machine that used the energy of the reagents you selected and your essence as fuel. It would have eventually stopped moving on its own. You could re energize it with your essence, but that would serve to bond it tighter to you, which is not a situation we want here. You have done well thus far, and I’m proud of you. We all are,” she told the younger man.
“She is right, Master. You have grown in skill, and as a person. Rather quickly, I might add. As such, I would say that your own Growth is no more than a month away. Once we get home, you should alert your job to your upcoming illness,” Yin grumbled.
“I can’t do that, bud. I can’t plan to be sick. Instructor? Do the symptoms all come on at once, or are they in stages?” Robert asked.
“You will most likely get the headaches first. If you can function through them, I would call your job at that point, and tell them that you are sick, and it is unknown as to how long it will last. Hopefully, you will be able to maintain your job after you are done Growing,” Katira replied.
“I can form human arms and hands for the time it takes to send a message on your phone, Master. I could also call for any number of other familiars and Necromancers to help, should you need it,” Yin said reassuringly.
Robert seemed satisfied with this answer, and began to clean his equipment. He had just finished when, with twin pops, we heard both Joaquin and Morita-san’s fires go out. All heads turned to watch the reaction complete.
Both squirrels were doused with the oil/essence mixture, and we watched as it was absorbed into the bodies of the squirrels.
Both squirrels twitched and sat up, turning their heads towards their creators and began chittering.
Morita-san nodded at Joaquin, and he cleared his throat. “Venha aqui, esquilo,” he said.
The squirrel shakily stood and took two steps before collapsing. We all watched in horror as it continued to crawl forward, leaving its back half behind. Joaquin began to panic and scooted back.
“Release it, Initiate Madras!”
“Morra, esquilo! Morra!” the young man cried out. The squirrel shuddered and heaved out its remaining breath, one clawed paw outstretched towards Joaquin. As it did, the rest of its entrails oozed out from its body, coupled with a brown slime.
“I will explain in a moment, Initiate Madras. Initiate Morita-san, it is your turn,” Katira said.
Morita-san swallowed, staring at the halves of the squirrel on the cavern floor. “私に近づいて、リス。” she said, her eyes never leaving the squirrel.
Her squirrel never moved. It sat there, blinking. “Instructor? What do I do? It’s not moving. Just….blinking,” Morita-san said quietly.
“Try rewording what you just said.”
“ここに来て、リス。” Morita-san said. The squirrel bounded over to her, and began to inspect her shoes.
“Excellent job, Morita-san. It seems that your reagents harmonized rather well with both you and your subject. This is why it is acting more like a normal, living creature and not the automaton Initiate Grimes produced. There is nothing wrong with your results, Initiate Grimes. You’ll just need to try a different combination of reagents, is all. Initiate Morita-san happened to chance upon the right triad for her for this experiment.
“The squirrel is yours to do with as you wish, Initiate Morita-san. Congratulations to the three of you. You have successfully reanimated your squirrels,” Katira said happily.
The others smiled and seemed happy. Morita-san looked at her squirrel and cocked her head to the side. “Should I name him?” she asked aloud.
“There is nothing prohibiting that, Initiate.”
“I shall call you Daisuke,” she said to the squirrel. “この死んだリスを片付けて、ダイスケ。” she commanded, and the squirrel bounded over to Joaquin’s partial reanimation, and began to cart the remains outside.
“Now, as for your squirrel, Initiate Madras. It was apparently infected by a parasite which had been eating it from the inside. Some sort of intestinal worm, I would say. When you reanimated it, the parasite was immediately destroyed, and likely aided the decomposition. There is no shame in this, and none of us could have known it was there. It is the risk we take when we choose a creature for reanimation.
“This is why a skeleton was chosen for reanimation more often than not in the past. There was no risk of parasitic infection, little risk of a messy failure, and in the event the energies used ran out, it would simply fall to the ground in a pile, ready to be used again. However, one needs a distinct grasp of anatomy for it, because in the event you put it together wrong, it won’t move correctly,” Katira said.
“So, wait. We could potentially Frankenstein ourselves a servant together?” Robert asked.
“Where do you think Mary Shelley got the idea, Initiate Grimes?” Katira returned with an enigmatic smile.
Robert sat there, his mouth agape.
“Close your mouth, Initiate. You might catch a fly, otherwise.”
We all laughed as Robert closed his mouth with a click. He shook his head and sat beside his cubbyhole in thought. Morita-san and Joaquin were talking animatedly in their respective languages, aided by their familiars.
I sat beside my equipment, watching the oil collect in the reservoir. It looked a little different than the others’ did.
“Instructor?” I asked, waving her over.
“Yes?”
“My essence-infused oil looks different to theirs. Theirs was green, and mine is…well, it’s kind of an orangey-pink. Is something wrong?” I asked with concern.
“Hmm. I’m not sure. I’ve never seen a reanimation essence appear this color. Yin? Shutan? Oiwa? Would you three come here, please?” she called out.
The three familiars approached my station curiously. Katira turned to them, gesturing at my equipment. “Have any of you ever seen this color in a reanimation essence before?” she asked.
“Exactly once,” Shutan said, stroking his bony jaw. “Stu? Yours is a Multiplying essence, correct?” he asked, receiving a nod. “Then, I will reveal nothing, save this: This will be interesting.” He walked away, shaking his head, and I could swear I saw a smirk on his skeletal countenance.
“What? Interesting? I’m not sure I like interesting. Wait a minute! What do you mean, interesting?” I called after him, receiving no inkling of acknowledgement.
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2023.06.07 21:24 Sylver713 Hunger Games : A new Generation (119th Hunger Games, part 2)

Day 1:
Few of the tributes got much sleep that night. The parties all throughout the Capitol did not end until dawn, and the noise could be heard in the accommodation building. Vannery and Carton ate breakfast slowly, like zombies. They were subsequently taken to the holding rooms. Organza wished Carton good luck before accompanying Vannery in her cell. She kept trying to reassure her as she put on her beige shorts and t-shirt. The young girl attached her hair with a purple ribbon that had been provided and climbed into the glass tube. Organza hugged her one last time, feeling her tears soaking her shoulder.
It was Platonia Travers who accompanied Carton. She muttered to herself about the outfit choice for this year. She tried to be cold to the boy, but she accepted to help him tie the purple ribbon to his wrist. He gave her a sad smile : “I probably won’t come back, but it’s nice to know that everyone in the Capitol isn’t heartless.” Platonia stood, mute, as the boy’s platform started to rise. She couldn’t keep the tears in this time.
A few cells over, the atmosphere was as morose. Alexandra had finally deigned to discuss their strategy with Delta. She accepted his plan of staying on the sidelines while he ran to the cornucopia. Still, he looked at her suspiciously and hounded her about working together for the whole breakfast. Halifax gave Delta one last pill to combat the morphling withdrawal, assuring him that the only symptoms he would experience were a mild headache and maybe some stiffness. He subsequently accompanied him to his holding room while Sean Callahan went with Alexandra.
Halifax took advantage of being alone with his mentee : “You shouldn’t trust her. I know these kinds of girls. They look harmless, but they’ll stab you in the back as soon as you let down your guard.”
“But-but…”
“You like her, huh ? Too bad, she doesn’t. So, man up and move on !”
Delta did not know what else to say. He climbed into the glass tube in silence, his brows forming a single black line over his dark eyes.
In the next holding room, another conversation was happening. “You don’t plan on allying with Delta, do you ?” asked Sean Callahan. Alexandra looked away coyly. “ I have other plans… With Angelo, we have an agreement.”
The mentor sighed, but he did not criticize the girl. He just told her to be prudent. You couldn’t trust careers. Alexandra nodded then flinched as the glass tube started descending from the ceiling.
The first thing she noticed as she rose into the arena was the noise. She hadn’t even emerged that she could hear a cacophony of bird songs. It was almost deafening, and she covered her ears before protecting her eyes from the sunlight.
The racket made Delta’s headache intensify. He first looked to his sides ; Hattie (3) cowered on the left while Angelo (2), on the right, was focusing on the cornucopia. This year, it had been made out of a thin weave of golden metal, almost like a very shiny basket. After this zoom on the cornucopia, the cameras started moving around to show off the arena. The tributes stood in the clearing of a dense rainforest. The terrain was relatively flat, with a few creeks and an explosion of colorful flowers. The main attraction of it was the birds, however, as thousands of them fluttered about, sang, and screamed.
As Carton looked around for his allies, Head Gamemaker Vishwa welcomed the tributes and wished the odds to be ever in their favor before starting the 30 seconds countdown. With Borea (5) and the girl from 10 to his sides, he didn’t feel safe. He finally found what he was looking for, but he didn’t like that his allies were so spread out. He made eye contact with Rivage and Vannery but was unable to see Sardine, who stood on the opposite side of the cornucopia.
Vannery caught sight of her district partner, as well as Sardine. She gave them a small wave, but made the mistake of looking to her left, where Perfecto (1) was sneering at her. Georges (N), on the other side, was just as intimidating. Instead, she looked straight ahead. As the countdown reached ten, she spotted a coil of rope on the outside of the cornucopia.
Delta had been pondering, unsure if it was worth entering the bloodbath. Alexandra, who happened to be just two podiums over, winked at him. She then pointed to the cornucopia. He understood. At that moment, the countdown reached zero. He sprinted to the center of the clearing, expecting her to follow, but she stayed on her podium.
On later replays, it was shown that Alexandra was winking at Angelo and not her district partner. As the boy from 2 sprinted forth to the cornucopia, the girl waited for a few seconds. She moved only when most of the other tributes were too occupied and grabbed a knife as well as a small bag of food. Angelo acted like he helped the other career tributes in order to pick up weapons and supplies, but as soon as they were occupied, he joined Alexandra. The pair was actually one of the first to leave the clearing, not counting Circuit (3) and the pair from 10 who had run away immediately.
When Vannery realized that she was running side to side with Perfecto (1), she immediately changed course and ran to Carton. She had to give up on the rope but managed to pick a water bottle off of the corpse of the boy from 9, who had just been stabbed by Glare (9).
If the career pack didn’t notice the disappearance of one of theirs, it wasn’t the case for Delta. When he saw his district partner escape with Angelo, he became enraged. He tried to exit the cornucopia. Fraxen then attacked him to try and steal his backpack. Delta threw him to the ground and punched him so hard it broke his neck. Now he had lost trace of Alexandra. As the fighting started to die down, he ran in a random direction.
Carton had dodged one of Glare’s knives and grabbed a bag of food and an unwieldy lance before Vannery and Rivage joined him. The trio heard Sardine scream from the other side of the cornucopia. Carton wanted to go and help her, but a second gargled wail convinced him that they couldn’t do anything else, especially since Proserpina (2) had now retrieved her axe from Sardine’s chest. As they left, they could hear the crunching of Ora’s neck (12) at the hands of Georges (N).
Meanwhile, Alexandra and Angelo were already far away, giggling at each other. It was only after Perfecto had stabbed Hattie (3) to death that the career pack noticed Angelo’s absence, but they didn’t seem bothered by it.
Delta was halfway to the perimeter when the five bloodbath cannons sounded. He was still seething, and the running helped him calm down. Eventually, he collapsed on the side of and old mossy tree, out of breath. Once he was a little better, he explored his surroundings. The big tree had a hole in his roots where Delta could fit, although it was a squeeze. He decided to stay there for now and used moss to hide himself. He also put some in his ears, which helped with his headache.
Carton, Rivage and Vannery had been running in the opposite direction. They wanted to put the most distance between themselves and the other tributes. They stopped long after the bloodbath cannons had sounded. They set up camp a few hundred feet away from the Northern part of the perimeter, next to a creek. Carton helped Rivage to take inventory. He had the lance, Rivage had gotten a trident, and between the three of them they had enough food to last two days at most. The bottle Vannery had taken was only half full, but the water of the creek was clear and drinkable.
The trio decided to stay put. Vannery and Carton would work on a shelter while Rivage fished for their dinner, as they had agreed to during training. In the early afternoon, they heard hurried footsteps coming their way. The boys readied their weapon, protecting Vannery between the two of us. Circuit (3) came running into their little encampment, which took him by surprise. He skidded to a halt and turned around as quickly as he’d arrived, leaving the trio dumbfounded.
Angelo and Alexandra had quite enough supplies to last a while. He held a sword in his hand and an “emergency axe” strapped to his back, while Alexandra held two knives. At first, they wanted to get away from the careers, but Alexandra eventually convinced Angelo to follow them from afar. They weren’t really hard to track, their bickering could be heard over the constant chatter of the birds. The noise also covered them. Proserpina, Glare and Perfecto were circling around the central clearing, slowly moving away from it. In the late afternoon, they discovered Forger (12) who was lying unconscious. He had received a deep wound during the bloodbath and was now at the mercy of the other tributes. Proserpina killed him.
The subsequent cannon surprised Vannery. She had climbed on top of a tree to get a view of the arena, and the sudden sound almost made her loose her grip. She didn’t fall, but while reaching her hand for a hold, she grabbed something warm and spherical. It crumbled and a viscous liquid dripped onto her finger. She looked up. She had inadvertently grabbed an egg from a nest. She was silent a moment, and a bright purple starling looked at her. “Oh no !” she whispered to herself. The bird screamed louder than she thought possible. Then it attacked.
All the birds in a radius of 50 feet coalesced into a multicolored tornado. Vannery fell to the ground, fortunately not hurting herself on the way down, and a feathery mass started clawing and pecking at her. They also attacked Carton and Rivage, who had been chilling at a distance. They batted the volatiles away, trying not to get scratched. Vannery managed to get up and run to the makeshift tent they had built. She picked up Carton’s lance and swung it, hitting some of the birds. She swung a second time and hit the metallic water bottle with a resounding CLANG! It seemed to stun the birds, but Vannery was too busy keeping them out of her face. Carton, however, noticed their reaction to the noise. He shouted loudly and flailed his arms : “Make noise ! They don’t like noise !”. Just his screaming was enough though. Eventually, the three tributes managed to drive the mutts out by hitting their weapons against rocks and the water bottle and screaming as loud as they could.
Delta also had an encounter with some angry birds. Those were red, with a long curvy beak and fearsome talons, but he managed to kill them all with a big branch he used as a bat. He then ate them, cooked over a small fire. Argus berated him for building a fire that could alert the other tributes to his location. However, the “Aviary Jungle” as it had been baptized by Urania Whimsiwick herself, was way too dense for anyone to see the smoke.
As the sun started to set, Delta squeezed himself back into his root hole, being careful to camouflage himself with moss. He held his branch in front of him just in case. An hour later, two cannons sounded in quick succession. They belonged to the pair from 10, who had had the great idea of making an omelet. The flock did not appreciate that…
When the sun started to set, Angelo suggested he and Alexandra find a place to sleep, preferably away from the career pack. She agreed, so they stopped following. They looked for a safe spot in the light of the dusk, eventually settling on the middle of a tight thicket. It was complicated to get inside, but the small space was comfortable, and the pair even had a view of the darkening sky. They ate some food then laid down, hand in hand. “Your district partner doesn’t seem to mind that you ditched her” joked Alexandra.
“I don’t think she cares. Maybe they believe I’m dead. But they’re not looking for us at least.”
“I think Delta is, though. You should have seen his face when he saw us. I almost feel bad about leading him on.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of him if he isn’t dead yet.”
“I’m sure he’s feeling the same thing”, responded Alexandra before going to sleep. Angelo kept the first watch.
In another section of the arena, Carton took the first watch. He had spent the remaining hours of daylight cleaning his wounds, along with Rivage and Vannery. The two of them slept, hoping to feel better the next day.
A little before midnight, Rivage awoke. He came to sit next to Carton, and the boys talked about their families, their school. Suddenly, a cannon sounded. It belonged to Ulma (7), who had stumbled upon Quinoa’s (9) camp by accident. The younger girl had not hesitated to stab a pointy branch in Ulma’s throat. This cannon prompted Carton to go to sleep, Rivage taking second watch.
At midnight, the hymn of Panem resounded in the arena and the portraits of the 9 fallen appeared in the sky : Hattie (3), Sardine (4), Fraxen and Ulma (7), the boy (9), both (10), Ora and Forger (12). This left 17 tributes after an eventful and interesting day.
Day 2:
Delta didn’t sleep much that night. The uncomfortable position coupled with a strong headache meant that he was up before the sunrise. As the first hints of blue appeared to the east, Delta got up. He needed to occupy his mind. The moss had stuck to his clothes, and he decided to take advantage of it. He caked his face and hands in mud and used it to stick more moss to his clothes. Urania commented that he looked like a green Orang-utang, which prompted laughter in the Capitol. Once he was fully camouflaged, he started roaming the arena. Stealthily at first, but as the sun rose and the birds started their cacophony as well, he allowed himself to move a little faster.
Alexandra and her district partner had spent a restful night. As she awoke, she was surprised to be cuddling with Angelo. Her rousing awakened him, and he turned around to look at her, puzzled. “I guess you’re the little spoon”, she joked. They ate cereal bars in awkward silence. Soon, the voices of the career pack walking in their direction prompted the pair to hide. Proserpina and Perfecto were loudly arguing about someone stealing their water bottles. Unbeknownst to them, it had been Glare who had hidden them in her own bag.
As they moved away from her, Alexandra suggested they follow the trio like the day before. Angelo thought it was a safe strategy as long as they kept their distances. They made their way out of the thorny thicket and followed. A few minutes later, a scream warned them that something was going on. It was Glare (1). She’d walked into a trap laid by Georges the day before and was now hanging upside down from a rope. Perfecto started to help her, but the stolen bottles fell from her bag, along with a few hidden knives and more food. Instead of killing her, as Perfecto wanted to do, Proserpina convinced him to leave her there. She screamed and screamed. Proserpina and Perfecto left her there wiggling. Before Alexandra and Angelo could arrive, the thin rope holding up Glare by the ankle snapped. She fell headfirst on the ground and her cannon sounded. Alexandra winced, but Angelo told her that it was better this way, since you could survive for many hours hanging this way. Then another cannon sounded.
Delta had been unsuccessful for a few hours. He had avoided a couple of poorly made traps and fought off a flock of tiny yellow canaries but had been unable to find another tribute. Eventually, he decided to change tactics. He found a path that clearly looked like it was in use and hid in proximity. His ambush eventually worked. Lavandine (11) walked past him, clutching a meagre stick in her pale hands. She didn’t even notice him getting up and following her, his branch raised. Many viewers thought it looked cartoonish, the tiny girl, followed by a big man with a club, not noticing anything. Glare’s cannon gave him the signal he expected, and he swung at her head. Lavandine flew and crashed into a patch of ferns. Her head was bloody, but she was still alive. Delta walked up to her in order to finish what he had started. The cameras cut to another group of tributes.
For the whole morning, Vannery, Rivage and Carton had been staying put. They foraged, fished, and built rudimentary spears just in case. Vannery climbed trees, very carefully in order not to disturb any more birds, so she could spot any tributes. Eventually she did, a little after midday. The pair from district 5 was heading their way. They were armed.
Vannery transmitted the information to the boys, who debated leaving or fighting. “Let’s fight !” said Vannery. There were 3 of them against 2, and they had weapons. Carton had his lance, Rivage his trident, and her… a spear and a rock would do the trick. So, they waited for what felt like a century. As soon as Borea and Zapp entered their field of vision, they attacked. The pair was surprised, but not enough to let themselves be killed that easily. Borea shouted at Zapp to run while she fended of Rivage’s trident with her sword. She had wrapped metal coil all around her arms, as she had seen on one of the older games. They clashed for an instant, enough time for her to disarm him, and then she ran too. On the way, she threw an egg she’d hidden in her pocket to the group. A flock of angry sparrows was the distraction the pair from 5 needed to escape.
Proserpina and Perfecto seemed to have made up a little and were now actively hunting. Still, they weren’t aware of the couple _ the “double A couple” as they were now called in the Capitol _ following them from afar. They dared not speak, but the looks they shared meant a lot more. They say love makes you blind, and maybe that’s why Alexandra didn’t see the orange and turquoise pheasant she walked on. It screamed and ran away, catching the attention of Proserpina. She turned around and shouted, “I knew it !” before charging at Angelo and her ally. Her first axe hit a tree a few inches above Alexandra’s head. She was hesitant to fight a career, but Angelo had already jumped into the fray and was now battling his district partner. So, she ran at Perfecto, who was lagging behind. He quickly turned around and sprinted when Proserpina’s cannon sounded. Angelo had managed to stab her in the gut. The look of betrayal was still printed on her face as the hovercraft claw took her away.
The pair was unsure if they needed to pursue the boy from 1, as Angelo assured that he was an “ego-inflated wimp” . Instead, they rifled through the bag Proserpina had dropped and decided to rest a little. They could have stayed there longer if it hadn’t been for the fire…
After getting rid of the birds, the trio decided to keep following Zapp and Borea (5) in order to get their supplies. Vannery managed to track them thanks to their footprints and the trail of broken branches. They found them quite quickly. Indeed, the gamemakers had decided to trigger a forest fire in order to move the tributes around a little. This explained why they had seen so many birds flying away. The pair from 5, however, had found themselves cornered on three sides by the flames, and the last side was where Carton and his allies arrived from.
Rivage thrusted his trident straight into Borea’s back, sounding her cannon. Carton’s lance, however, flew past Zapp and into the fiery inferno. The boy from 4 barely had the time to pick up his trident before a tree fell, smashing into the boy from 5 and sounding his cannon. As other trees started to creak and groan, Vannery led the boys back to the creek, where she believed the water would keep them safe.
Delta ran as soon as he smelled smoke. He ended up in a small clearing in the Southern part of the arena. As the grass quickly burned, he jumped into the flames. Many viewers gasped, thinking he had just killed himself, but he just ran a few seconds then stopped. Argus explained that the fire had been controlled in a way that it burned quickly and extinguished itself just as fast. From his spot of scorched earth, Delta was safe for now. From the sky descended a small silver parachute bearing the number 6. It contained a water bottle and some aspirin. Delta was the only one to use this strategy successfully. A few minutes after him, Circuit (3), who was shorter and weaker, tried. He fell face first into the fire and did not get up, his cannon sounding a few moments later.
Angelo and Alexandra were some of the closest to the central clearing, so it was after the three cannons that the fire reached them. They ran. Angelo was practically flying but the fire was catching up to Alexandra. Another tree cracked. It crashed onto the girl, pinning her legs to the ground. Thankfully, it was a much younger tree, and it did not cause her much more damage. For an instant, Alexandra thought the boy from 2 would just keep running. That he would be glad to get rid of yet another opponent. But he turned around. He used his axe as a lever, bending it in the process, to get the girl free. Then he picked her up onto his back and ran again. Angelo was not a very muscular tribute, but he proved to be quite a strong one.
Neither Carton, nor his allies had suffered any injury thanks to Vannery’s quick thinking. The creek was wide enough to protect them from the flames, and they avoided any falling branch. Quinoa (9) had had the same idea. She internally debated reaching the small group, but eventually decided not to. In the late afternoon, it started to rain, revealing that many of the trees and plants of the forest were actually fireproof. It was much sparser now, but the rain cleaned off the soot and, soon enough, the forest was green again.
Rivage, Vannery and Carton huddled together. They stayed that way for the whole evening, until Carton took the first watch while the other two went to sleep.
Delta was almost unharmed too, apart from a few minor burns on his ankles. The aspirin had taken effect, and for once in a long time, he felt totally clear headed. He hoped his district partner had died today.
The fire had changed the landscape quite a lot. What used to be a lush jungle was now less green. The ground was visible in most places, and the humidity levels had gone down. The sky was more visible. It also meant that the traps set by Georges and Odette (N) on the first day were either destroyed or very conspicuous. The boy from 6 avoided them all.
Delta found a pond where he cleaned himself from the soot and the half-charred moss. The fresh water also soothed his burns. He ended up settling close by, between two fallen trees.
Angelo and Alexandra, however, had suffered many burns. Fortunately, as they were setting camp and trying to remove their singed clothes, a silver parachute descended over them. It contained two containers of oil, as well as a blanket and a note from Angelo’s mentors, which he did not show to Alexandra. It would later be revealed that it scolded him for keeping his plan of betraying the career pack secret. The oil was perfumed and designed to almost instantly heal burns. It worked a charm. As the massaging continued, the two tributes started to get more and more steamy. They were intimate that night.
While they were busy, the portraits of the fallen appeared in the sky. The second day of the games had seen the loss of Glare (1), Proserpina (2), Circuit (3), Borea and Zapp (5), and Lavandine (11). This left only 11 tributes for the third day, with better odds now that a few strong tributes were gone.
Day 3:
On the morning of the third day, an announcement was made by Head Gamemaker Vishwa. She informed the tributes that a feast would be held at noon, three hours from now. The 11 surviving boys and girls would find supplies they desperately needed there. She then wished everyone a glorious day and the dampened sound of the birdsongs came back in full force.
The announcement awoke Delta, but he decided not to go to the Feast. He still had food and a source of water nearby, as well as his heavy branch. A real weapon would have been nice, but he didn’t feel safe going to the central clearing. Instead, he decided to just sleep more. He only woke up again when the first cannon sounded.
As for the couple, they were lost in bliss. Their show from the previous night had to be censored, although it was available for those who had enough “connections”. Let’s just say that it was quite memorable, and cemented Angelo and Alexandra’s place as favorites. They got ready after a long cuddling session, grabbing their bags and their weapons and heading to the cornucopia. They arrived with minutes to spare. Actually, they were the last tributes to arrive.
Vannery had been the first on site, scouting for other tributes. Once she had been sure the coast was clear, she had signaled to Rivage and Carton that they could come. They hid in the bushes nearby; this area having been spared from the fires. Little by little, other tributes started to arrive. Kumquat (11) hid behind a tree, Perfecto (1) stood in the open, Odette and Georges (N) huddled together.
As Quinoa (9) and the “Double A couple” finally arrived, the cornucopia started receding into the ground. It reappeared at once, and a bell rang.
Vannery stayed behind. She watched all the tributes run to the center where laid 8 numbered bags, including Carton and Rivage. The fighting raged in the cornucopia. Her allies attacked Alexandra and Angelo, as Kumquat escaped with his bag. Quinoa (9) almost got out, but Perfecto (1) caught her by the ponytail and stabbed her in the throat, sounding her cannon. He then picked up her bag in addition to his.
Alexandra and Angelo fought side to side, covering each other. She scared Odette (N) away, while he pushed back against Rivage. The boy from 4 tried to hit Alexandra again, but her ally caught the trident and almost tore it out of Rivage’s hands. Instead of trying again, he attacked Georges. The trident hit him in the back and sounded his cannon a few seconds later. Angelo took advantage of this distraction to slash at Carton with his sword, causing the boy from 8 to bleed out.
Vannery screamed and ran out of her hiding place, almost colliding with Odette (N) on the way. Rivage grabbed the district 4 and district 8 bags in one hand, and Vannery’s arm in the other, and they ran away together. The young girl cried and struggled to keep up the pace. She wanted to go back, but Carton’s cannon sounded, ruining her hopes.
Angelo and Alexandra were the last tributes to get their bags. One of Perfecto’s knives punctured Alexandra’s. The pair turned back, giving Kumquat (11) enough time to flee. They chased Perfecto into the woods. He was quick, however, and they had a hard time gaining on him.
The following hours were very quiet, boring, even, so Urania and Argus invited a few guests to discuss the bloodbath and the tributes’ different strategies. It was only in the late afternoon that Delta deigned getting up. He was well rested. He ate what remained of his food and started camouflaging himself once again in order to hunt. The tributes were now very spread out, however, and it appeared that Delta was in an area devoid of them. He walked until it got too dark to continue, before letting out a scream of rage. His sudden outburst scared some resting birds. They flew away and hit Kumquat (11) square in the face as he was in the process of climbing up one of the taller trees. The surprise caused him to lose his grip and he fell to his death a few feet away from Delta, his Feast bag laying next to him. Suddenly, Delta laughed and thanked the birds. He emptied the contents of the bag, glad to find some fresh food and water. He settled right there for the night.
Angelo and Alexandra eventually gave up on hunting Perfecto. Every time they thought they heard him; it turned out to be another bird. He was nowhere to be found. The pair settled down near a creek, right where Carton and his allies had camped earlier, in order to clean themselves. It was another spectacle to behold. The couple played in the fresh water, wearing only their underwear, and at one point, Alexandra winked at one of the cameras. This resulted in the appearance of a sponsor gift a few seconds later. She caught it and opened it discreetly once she was dressed again. She checked that Angelo was busy with the campfire before peeking inside. There was a water bottle and a tiny, sheathed stiletto knife, about two inches long. There was also a note that said : “You will only get one chance” – S. She acted nonchalant, thanked her sponsor for the water, and hid the knife in her sock. She took the first watch, jumping when a cannon sounded.
Since they had come back from the Feast, Vannery felt that Rivage was acting strange. He kept pacing and muttering to himself and seemed unhappy even though they had received enough supplies to last five more days in the arena at least. They found another place to sleep, Vannery built a new shelter. As she was about to go to sleep, Rivage approached her, trident in hand. He didn’t speak, so she asked him what he wanted. “I’m sorr-“ he started. Vannery interrupted him : “Behind you !”.
He spun around and threw his trident. It caught Perfecto in the head, sounding his cannon before he had hit the ground. He had been sneaking up behind Rivage with a knife in both hands, but Vannery had a keen eye. Rivage seemed to deflate. He cleaned up his weapon and went to sleep. Vannery tried to ask him what he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t answer. Instead, she took the first watch.
At midnight, five portraits appeared in the sky : Perfecto (1), Carton (8), Quinoa (9), Kumquat (11) and Georges (N). The six remaining tributes were spread out around the arena : Rivage and Vannery to the East, Angelo and Alexandra to the North, Odette (N) in the South and Delta to the West.
Day 4:
The sound of a cannon startled Delta out of his slumber. He was feeling well rested and decided to head to the cornucopia with just his branch and a knife he had taken from Kumquat. With only 5 remaining tributes, he knew that the showdown was about to take place and was about as excited as the viewers in the Capitol for it to happen. On the way, he stumbled upon a suspicious mound of leaves. He almost let it be, until he saw two feet poking out of it. As he bent down to look at it, a sharp pain entered his shoulder blade. By pure reflex, he swung his club backwards, hitting a barefoot Odette (N) in the forehead. She stumbled backwards, clutching her knife, and tripped on a rock. Delta jumped onto her, planting his knee in her stomach, and stabbed her with her own knife. He added it to his “collection”.
The atmosphere between Alexandra and Angelo had been quite tense since they’d woken up. They hadn’t slept so well. When the first cannon sounded, they set out to get to the cornucopia, and by the time the second cannon echoed throughout the arena, they were in position. “We’ll fight together, right ?” asked Alexandra. Angelo nodded solemnly : “Until there’s no one else. I’m so glad I got to meet you.”
“Me too… Too bad one of us will have to die.”
As she said those words, a twig cracked in a nearby bush.
The first cannon had shocked the viewers quite a bit. As Rivage finished his watch, he looked at Vannery, asleep next to him. He murmured “I’m sorry”, so low that it had to be subtitled. Then he plunged his trident in her throat. Before leaving, Rivage let out the longest sigh of relief.
Alexandra climbed onto the cornucopia, hiding herself, a length of rope held tight between her hands. She waited as Rivage entered the clearing. He was focused on Angelo. Delta appeared a few seconds later, on the other side of the cornucopia. He walked under it, oblivious to the girl awaiting him. As Angelo charged Rivage with his sword, Alexandra lowered the rope. Delta let out a choked growl as she pulled. He was much stronger, however. With one labored step, he yanked her off the roof. The rope was still around his neck, but his hands were now around Alexandra’s. Nevertheless, she held on to the rope, using it to hold him at bay. Just before she fell unconscious, she kicked him in the groin. She let out a few coughs, before grabbing the two ends of the rope again and pulling Delta against one of the steel columns of the cornucopia. Delta tried to stab her, but she was behind him, and he was quickly loosing consciousness. With one last brutal pull, the rope crushed his windpipe.
Alexandra watched Angelo dispose of Rivage with one final feint of his sword, and his cannon sounded at the same time as Delta’s.
Silence fell on the clearing. Even the birds had shut up. The couple was breathing heavily. They hugged tight. Something glinted in Alexandra’s hand. She almost reached Angelo’s neck when he gripped her wrist. He smiled, but his eyes were full of sorrow. “I had to try at least !” she half-laughed, half-whimpered. He sat her down and hugged her once again. She told him that he deserved to win. That he was a good man. He took his swords and gently stabbed Alexandra in the heart. She barely cried as he looked into her eyes. A cannon sounded. The last one. Jahani Vishwa announced Angelo Clearfell, of district 2, as the victor of the 119th Hunger Games. He had to be forcefully removed form Alexandra’s corpse in order to be retrieved.
Aftermath:
The games took an immense toll on Angelo, who was unable to speak for more than a month. Even when he had gotten the use of his words back, he fell into a lengthy depression. His interview with Urania Whimsiwick and Argus Brown had to be cut short as soon as they mentioned Alexandra.
After that, he remained alone in his home of the Victor’s village. He received no guests and did not act as a mentor the following years. The other victors of his district described him as “disillusioned” and “a killjoy”. The situation stayed the same until his disappearance two years later.
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2023.06.07 21:22 haunterloo92 [IC] PKaps RGBEnglish! Pre-order Starts 7/7! Vendors & Samples In Thread!

RGBEnglish Samples on Adware!
Hello there, welcome to the RGBEnglish Interest Check! This set started off as a simple, silly idea based on other busy language sets. I wanted to use brighter colors as opposed to matching the stock GMK colors that are often used for RGB kits. The set is dyesub PBT, using PKaps as a manu. It's been in the works for almost a year now, and it's finally time to make it public!
You can help me and others out by filling out the IC form!!
This set is planned to be IN STOCK a few months after the pre-order period.
This set will be ONE giant base kit covering most everything from ortho to 40's to as big as they may get. Unless there's a large majority wanting some different keys or things changed around, this should be it. Please make sure to fill out the IC form!
Click here to check out kitting!
Below are some additional renders:
Serendipity by Dededecline
TGR 910 by Yutski
w1-at by Geon
Real life photos of 3rd round samples! These are the keycaps you will be recieving!
MB44 bt Melonbred
Adware by Chickenman
Brane by Blind Panda
Pre-order starts 7/7!
NA: ParamountKeebs
EU: Keygem
UK: Prototypist
OCE: Allcaps
Asia: Hex.Keyboards
Thanks to all these special people,
Chickenman, Smokey, and Obama for keeping me in check and ensuring this set is able to cross the finish line!
Customs for collectively brainstorming the idea
OCM for the graphical assistance with the render files
Dededecline for the kitting help
Zetina for the amazing renders and being fast and professional just the best around
Anybody else I may have missed, you're all awesome
And YOU for checking out the IC! Have a great day!
submitted by haunterloo92 to mechmarket [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:21 DMerceless Power Fantasy, Flavorful Storyteller, or Hardcore Wargame? — PF2's Identity Crisis

I will preface this by saying that, no, the three things in the title of the post are not mutually exclusive. Not necessarily so, at least. However, there has been quite a bit of discussion lately about what kind of game PF2 is trying to be, how mismatched expectations can often damage players' experiences with the game, and... well, I do think in the game as it currently exists, there are places where these different aspects are at odds with one another.
Introduction
While my post is not a direct response to it, u/Killchrono 's last thread on this subject is what got me to think about it more deeply. They argue that a lot of people come into PF2 expecting something different from what it actually provides: a deep, team-based, wargamey experience that demands quite a bit from the player in terms of engaging with and mastering the multitude of mechanics and nuances it has. And that this fact is often the origin of negative experiences people have with the game. There, I believe they're absolutely correct. I've seen this situation play out a couple of times personally, and be talked about tenfold online.
When people discuss this, they tend to point to a couple of culprits. Expectations from other types of media, being "coddled" by modern videogame design, and, of course, the looming BBEG of the tabletop scenario: D&D 5e. Both in terms of the game giving people bad habits and the PF2 community wanting to push it as a solution to all the problems in 5e. And none of these things are completely false. Though, even if I enjoy bashing D&D and want WotC to burn as much as the other guy, before we declare that game the root of all evil, I think there's a very important question to be asked:
What is PF2 trying to be, and does it actually sell itself as that?
Unleash Your Hero!
If you go to Pathfinder's page on the Paizo website right now, this little slogan is the first thing you're met with, written in bold and very big letters. Following it, there are sentences like
This comprehensive 640-page guide provides everything you need to set out into a world of limitless fantasy adventure!
And
The new Pathfinder rules are easier to learn and faster to play, and they offer deeper customization than ever before!
When you read these, are "deeply tactical" or "difficult" the first concepts that come to mind? Probably not. They did say customizable, but a game offering deep character customization is almost entirely unrelated to how much strategy it requires from the players. And sure, it's just a landing page, and marketing is gonna market, but this is far from the only place where heroic fantasy is sold as a core theme.
Everywhere, from flavor text to class descriptions to even out-of-game official content, it just oozes with the idea that you're going to be an awesome hero, and that's the main draw of the game. For example, if you look at the short stories for each Iconic, so many of them are depicted as being these powerful and inspiring people who can do incredible things on their own. Mios straight up cures their disease/curse via Thaumaturge Bullshit™ and proceeds to carve their path from there, and Thaleon is shown wiping an entire room of bad guys with a single spell or two.
I'd even go a little deeper than that and say that the design of many Iconics sells the same thing. There's no better example than Fumbus. Like, [just look at this little fella](). He carries a big explosive barrel, has some steampunk rocketeer goggles, and is almost always seen with at least one armed bomb in hand. "Support character that can help the team with their versatility and do damage as a side thing sometimes" is probably one of the last things that comes to mind when looking at him. And yet, that's what the Alchemist, the class he's meant to represent, is.
All of this stuff started making me question. And I don't mean it in a "haha, I know the answer to this and you don't" way. Just... wandering thoughts about something I am legitimately unsure of. Is PF2 actually meant to be this hardcore wargame where a group of individually weak people struggle and put their sweat and blood together to fight against the odds, or did the designers end up underestimating how difficult it can be to achieve said hero fantasy in a game that requires so much teamwork and coordination to do basic things like hitting attacks or making a spell stick against a strong enemy?
Playing to Win vs. Telling a Story
Let's take a step back, put aside all this marketing, flavor text, and visual design stuff, and focus on the actual game for a moment. PF2 is, undeniably, a tactics-heavy game. There are a lot of conditions, positioning, and coordination involved in performing well. It's also designed in such a way that people using their abilities to correctly set each other up and manipulate the math is extremely important and multiplies the power of the party exponentially. However, PF2 is also a game that dedicates hundreds of pages to building lore and flavor. It's a game that has a book that's almost entirely an in-universe travel guide, and where options like Approximate and Quick Sort, which clearly serve no mechanical purpose, are still printed decently often. That combination is quite unusual, I'd say.
Look no further than archetype design. In a game that's just meant to be a wargame, it would make no sense for more than half of the available archetypes to be flavorful-but-clearly-not-powerful options, yet that's what we have. Most of them don't even try to be powerful, opting instead to give people extremely niche options that might fit a specific theme, faction, or region. Whether or not you enjoy that decision, or feel like these options have a place in the game, their existence shows a great interest in making Pathfinder 2e more than just a tactical tabletop game. The designers deeply care about the world they're creating and the stories that can be told in it. And that's where things get tricky.
If you enjoy both aspects equally, things probably look great for you. If you only enjoy the wargame side, as much as these fluffy options might feel like unnecessary bloat, you can simply ignore them. The third camp, though, the people who came for the story, or for the hero fantasy mentioned in the previous point, but who don't enjoy having to fry their brains every time initiative is rolled, might feel a little double-crossed when they realize how demanding the default experience in PF2 can be. Or that their character is not really all that awesome on their own, but rather shines when everyone is setting each other up — less He-Man and more Power Rangers.
That is, ultimately, what I believe is the main reason for all the dissonance we see in online discourse surrounding the game. Yes, 5e influence does make a sizeable difference, as do other factors, but the game seems to shoot for a lot of different audiences at once, and when these audiences have mutually exclusive/conflicting expectations and tastes... well, we all know what happens.
Conclusion
Writing a conclusion to this little essay is, oddly, the hardest part. The topic certainly doesn't help, involving subjective feelings and emotions to a pretty high degree. I'll say one thing, though: I do genuinely believe the game could do a better job of deciding what it is, what it isn't, and expressing that in a clean and easy-to-understand manner. Either give the monsteencounter building guidelines some small tweaks and clarifications to make the initial experience more forgiving (and design APs as such for Arazni's sake), or fully commit to it being demanding and hardcore, but provide guidance in the books themselves about what is expected of players in terms of tactics and teamwork.
I'd personally rather go with the first option, for a couple of reasons, but that would start a whole new conversation about "who should the burden of changing the default game fall on?" discussions, which could be an entirely new thread.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Are there any other factors contributing to this perception dissonance that neither this post nor any of the recent ones touch on? Do you see any clear path ahead on how to make the situation better for everyone? Thanks for reading!
submitted by DMerceless to Pathfinder2e [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:15 klalor_1998 High CPU usage and games crashing

Hello I’m extremely inexperienced in the world of PCs and I have this issue out of nowhere that I’m wondering if someone can try to help me with. I play rdr2 and Overwatch daily with no issues. Last night I hopped on COD MW2 warzone with some friends and had to update drivers. I did, rebooted the game and played for over an hour with no issues other than some minor stuttering which is not uncommon for COD. Then I went to play rdr2 and it crashed after 3 minutes. I tried overwatch as well and it was unplayable due to lag. I noticed both games using 100% CPU usage in task manager. This has never happened before. I tried rdr2 with serval different graphics settings, all the same, it would crash after 3 minutes of gameplay. A program named easy driver wants me to pay 30$ to install and update 16 drivers. I have a friend telling me to try a DDU or driver uninstall. I’m lost and feeling clueless and do not want to spend money on an issue that just randomly popped up when all my games have been working flawlessly forever until now!! My specs are: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Driver version 535.98 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 @ 2.90GHz 15.87 GB RAM 1920x 1080, 165Hz Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA
submitted by klalor_1998 to techsupport [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:13 Future_Ad_3485 Valley of the Unknown Part Twenty-Six: A Bittersweet Ending

Ember played with the boys on the floor, their hands reaching for him. Pouring over the files of the latest security breach on our magical borders, my eyes fell on Alex playing with his new friends outside. Waving at me, Jack embraced me from behind. Kissing the top of my head, it felt as if something big was going to happen today. A tender blush rose to my cheeks, my hand cupping his face.
“We need to raid an outpost today. Hopefully we can get information on the main headquarters.” He informed me warmly, biting my neck. Drinking his fill, my crippling anxiety stole any joy it normally would have given me. Missions like these frightened me, every cell in me wanted to turn into a raven and fly away for the day. Finishing up his breakfast, he set down an armored filled dress with leggings. Salford whispered something in his ear, sliding him a pair of car keys. Rising to my feet, I took my new outfit to our bedroom. Changing quickly, the dress felt heavy on my frame, the leggings seemed to be lined with chain mail. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I ran into Jack on the way out. Embracing me lovingly, the keys dangled off of his fingers. Feeling his simple black suit, a light armor lined it. Chewing on my lips, our friends waited for us in matching black armor.
“We are ready to go.” Raven announced proudly, my eyes falling on Salford. “Salford said that he was going to watch the boys.” Adjusting their backpacks, weapons clanged in their bags. Guilt gnawed at me, the concept of putting them in danger sickening. My lips parted in protest, Raven raising her finger.
“We are coming. Those bastards killed my family and they are going to pay.” She asserted firmly, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Besides, I want to back my friend up.” A deep sadness haunted her eyes, my hands cupping hers. A gentle but broken smile dimmed her features, silent tears staining her cheeks.
“I appreciate it and I apologize for not being there to stop it. I ruined everyone’s life by not being there.” I choked out shamefully, bowing my head. “I failed you and everyone else. I will make it up to you guys, I fucking promise you that.” Grabbing my shoulder, her other hand lifted up my chin.
“You were busy doing your own shit. I heard you showed up, girl!” She chatted pleasantly, my shaking fingers wiping away her tears. “You have a place where humans and monsters get along with ease. Have you been sleeping? You look like hell.” A deadpan expression appeared on my face, her last comment ticking me off slightly. Brushing it off, Jack cleared his throat. Placing me on his back, he carried me to a delivery van. Hopping off of his back, I let myself in. The Tainsworth twins sat in the front with their armor on, Raven climbing in with Ruby. Messing with her curls, Raven basically sat on top of her. Adjusting my bell sleeves, the leather hugged my slender arms. Oppressive silence hung between us, Ruby refusing to look at me. Folding her arms across her chest, something needed to be said. Choosing not to say it, the time passed horribly slow. The van screeched to a halt, Jack pulling me into a hidden compartment. The door squeaked open, heavy footfalls echoed in the back.
“Who are you?” A gruff voice demanded, Ruby speaking up. Clearing her throat, her voice tone seemed rather bitter.
“We wish to join your ranks. I can’t stand vampires, especially their fucking queen. She could die for all I care.” She snapped hotly, truth oozing from her words. “She is hiding somewhere in this van.” Horror rounded our eyes, her betrayal striking us in the heart.” Opening the compartment hiding us, she took a step back. The hunters slapped handcuffs on us all, Ruby grinning evilly ear to ear. Wicked laughter rumbled in her throat, her head cocking back.
“I have been working with them the entire time. There is no information, just the home of your executions.” She gloated sensually, the twins cursing in her direction. “I am not even a teenager. I am a witch who has been alive for centuries. Can I tell you a secret? I am the leader of the hunters. Everyone else was just a puppet.” Sighing with satisfaction, she circled us. Tears welled up in my eyes, Raven sobbed softly next to me. Pulling a gun from her pocket, Ruby shot her in the head. Time slowed, the twins crying out. Emptying her gun into them, a broken wail burst from my lips. Their bodies dropped forward, ruby dripping from the holes in the middle of their foreheads. Jack twitched darkly next to me, my mind officially broken. His bangs hid his eyes, his claws extended from his fingernails. Unlocking his handcuffs, he pretended to get madder as he worked on mine. The metal clanged to the ground, Ruby’s eyes widening with terror. Tears blurred my vision, my scythe sliding into my eager palms.
“You fucking bitch!” I screamed vehemently, pacing back and forth. Reapers held their souls in their palms, all hope of saving them was gone. “You are going to pay.” Shrugging her shoulders, she leaned forward.
“How pathetic for the queen to lose her cool so quickly?” She taunted cruelly, Jack fumed dangerously next to me. “You can’t damage me. You can kill this body and all I have to do is find another one. Angel of darkness! Kill all of my hunters and give me their lives.” The hunters holding us hostage dropped to the ground, thousands of white glowing balls flowing into her. Panic gripped my face, reapers burst from the ground surrounding her. Death himself popped up next to me, one raise of his hand stopping them.
“I am going to bring these souls to Heaven. Take her out.” He commanded urgently, the balls floating into a worn leather sack hanging off of his wrists. “They are all dead. You did all that you could. Good luck.” The last ball of light floated into the sack, a snap of his finger signaling his disappearance. The three of us remained, a ball of shadowy energy building in her palm. A low hissing noise echoed around us, the delivery truck fading to the base of a dead twisted tree. Violet grass danced around me, a chill running up my spine. Gripping my scythe tightly, rage mixed with depression. Sauntering out from behind the tree, a single wave of her hand sent us a couple of yards away. Gone was the armor she wore, a tight leather number hugging her body. Violet needles rested in between her fingers, dead man’s blood dripped onto the grass.
“I suppose you want to hear about my tale and why I am doing this?” She mused with a wicked chuckle, licking the blood off her hand. “I have a bomb ticking away. The lovely thing will release a virus that will kill all of the monsters in the world. Humans will be infected with a magical mind control. Don’t worry about your friends. I killed them because they were annoying me. Do you know how hard it was to pretend to be friends with you and arrange your fucking role? I made a deal with your father to kill you. How did you like the little bonfire?” Wanting to charge at her, Jack held me back. Raising my scythe into the attack position, the corner of my lips curled into a snarl.
“You freaking bitch.” I growled through gritted teeth, leaping into the air. Raising her hands in the air, thousands of needles floated behind her. Flicking her wrists, the rain of needles tore through my body. Jack would die, my boots pushing off the branch. Covering Jack with my body, the needles struck me instead. A burning sensation coursed through my veins, inky sludge pouring from my eyes. Cracks lined her face as needles struck the tree, an idea coming to mind. Jack trembled underneath me, his eyes falling on the blackened veins coursing lining my porcelain skin.
“Shoot her in the hands. She can’t throw her needles if her wrists can’t move.” I wheezed, coughing up blood. Dragging him behind the tree, my chains blocked the needles heading towards Jack. His hand quaked, his bullets hitting everywhere but the target. Lining my free arm up with his, my hand steadied his.
“I can’t!” He protested with wet eyes, his mental state beyond repair. “My friends are dead. My friends are dead! She used to be my friend!” Shimmering teardrops crashed to the grass, the grass darkening to an inky black. Confusion dawned on his face the moment I held his gun underneath his eyes. Teardrops flooded the chamber, my hand guiding his hand to the level of his eyes. Getting behind him, I clicked the safety. Aiming for her palm, a quick yank sent a blackening bullet up her arm. A wave of relief washed over me the moment her needles glitched, the muzzle of his gun aimed for her other palm. Pulling the trigger, the bullet shattered her other arm. Dropping to her side, cracks echoed in the air. The cracks on her face had deepened, my attention turning towards her tree. Swinging my scythe into the tree, her shrill shrieks filled the air as flames raced into the center of the tree. Water snaked around their branches, my chains clinking their way around the thick trunk. Mouthing a silent spell, the needles floated out of me.
“Water from my heart! Flames of the Dead! Chains from my master! I call upon thee to burn the tree down, drown it from the inside. Choke the shit out of it.” I ordered sharply, each word hurting. “Final spell, turn my blood into venom for a witch.” Raising my right hand, a bell rang the moment the tip of my scythe made contact. Closing my fist, the needles dug themselves into the tree. Flames devoured her skin, cold water filled her lungs. Chains snaked up her body, a sea of fiery orange coloring her skin. My vision blurred, Jack snapping out of his paralyzed state. Raising his gun, a bullet whistled into the tree. The bullet being the last thing we needed, the tree decayed to dust along with her. The dimension crumbled away, my legs giving out. Leaning against the destroyed van, fresh tears flowed freely at the sight of our dead friends. Jack picked up one of their backpacks, his tears soaking the top of the bag. Pulling out a medical bag, he ripped out a needle filled with milky liquid. Jamming the needle into my leg, the effects of the venom dying down. Pressing my ear to the ground, an ominous ticking echoed in my ear. Tick, tick, tick! Feeling around the dirt, a metal door clanged underneath my hand. One look in Jack’s direction, he understood. Spinning the rusty handle, he lifted up the door. Gathering the rest of my strength, I popped in. Shutting the door behind me, the lock sealed my fate. Jack protested outside, the top refusing to budge, my heart sinking at the only option. The only way to stop the bomb was to set it off in a dome, the spell caster having to be in the center of it. Praying that my reaper side would keep me alive even Jack had to know that he didn’t stand a chance. Using my scythe as a walking stick, my feet moved with adrenaline. Sniffing the air, the sweet smell told me where to go. Limping through the twisted concrete halls, my breath hitched at the orange angry metal ball. Taking a deep breath, the image of my dead friends and that town I called home flashed in my mind. Pushing through, I sank to my knees. The last of my power built around my hands, a sad smile haunting my face the moment I placed my palms on the surface. A water dome glittered over me, reaper’s flames reinforcing it. Channeling the rest of my flames into core, the metal rattled violently. Preparing for the worst, a giant raven folded its wings around me.
“I will protect you no matter what.” Dr. Death promised warmly, his energy providing me safety as the chemical blasted everywhere but us. “Dissolve the poison.” The colorful particles lightened to a snow white, everything hitting me at once. Ruffling my hair, he disappeared back into my mind. Jack sprinted in, his shattered expression speaking volumes.
“I am so sorry I couldn’t save them.” I blubbered uncontrollably, falling to the floor. “I don’t deserve you. You should just k-” Rushing over to me, he clutched me desperately to his chest. Tears flowed freely, neither of us able to move. Laying back, the clarified chemicals reminding me of snow. A tortured wail burst from my lips, my quaking fingers clinging to his jacket. Saphiro and Hazard skidded to a stop, their faces dropping at the sight of us. Shaking our shoulders to see if we were alive, gracious grins brightened their features at us breathing. Their words faded in and out, a rough darkness enveloping me in it’s sea of madness.
Jerking awake, an eager Alex and Hazel hovered by the white hospital bed. Covering my eyes from the blinding lights, their arms embraced me from either side. Eloise smothered Jack in love, his numb expression matching mine. Bursting into tears, their smiling faces taunted me. Holding me tighter, his words faded in and out. Jack screamed for everyone to leave him alone. Kissing Hazel on the head, Alex dragged her out. Walking over to my bed, his little sister sulked out. Crawling in next to me, his head rested on my chest. Wail after wail burst from his lips, my slender hands being the only thing comforting him. These were his friends and now they were gone. The fault was all mine, guilt eating me raw from the inside. Hours passed like this, him going numb then screaming with raw emotional agony. Swinging his feet over the edge of the bed, he tugged on his boots.
“Are you coming?” He asked hoarsely, offering me his hand. “We need to go home and raise our family.” Accepting his hand cautiously, he yanked me to feet. Placing me on his back, the look in his eyes begged for me to rest my head on his back. Walking into the hall, he ignored the pleading nurses. Saphiro blocked his path, his depressed smile not helping the situation. Tugging anxiously on his navy vest, my mind chose to focus on the midnight black blouse underneath his vest. Clearing his throat, clammy sweat drenched his skin.
“Come with me.” He begged kindly, Jack seconds from saying no. “Please. I have a couple of things to show you.” Caving to his request, we walked for a solid ten minutes to the cemetery. Three caskets waited to be lowered to the ground, Jack dropping me. Struggling to my feet, my heart shattered at him draping his arms over the coffin. Whispering a prayer to them, he took a step back. Pulling me close to his waist, his sobs grew louder as they lowered the caskets into the ground. Death popped up behind us with three letters in his hands, his head bowed in respect to the dead bodies.
“These are from your friends. Call it one final letter.” He informed Jack sullenly, turning towards me. “Thank you for your services. Unfortunately, I can’t remove the curse.” Offering me his hand, my fingers curled around his hand. Shaking it once, he bowed in my direction. Pressing his palms together, a twinkle glinted in his eyes.
“Once everything settles down, we should get together to have tea. I am sorry for your loss.” He expressed serenely, understanding death but not the grief part. Snapping his fingers he was gone, an eager Jack reading the letters. Curiosity burned a bit but my inside voice told me to leave it alone. Tucking them into his pocket, he placed me on his back. Following Saphiro back into town, his crooked grin lit up his face for a quick second.
“They said not to lose you.” He chuckled softly, a bit of hope glinting in his eyes. “Time will heal my wounds.” Hundreds of eyes watched us enter back into town, my jaw dropping at the statue of the five of us. The plaque read the heroes of the dawn, the two of us unsure of what to feel. Jack thanked him profusely, Saphiro pointing to the Victorian mansion at the top of the nearby hill.
“That mansion is yours to conduct your business as well as living in it.” He promised earnestly, fresh tears flooding from my eyes. “We hope you choose this town as your home.” Jumping down, I cupped his hands. A tender blush rose to his cheeks, my real smile illuminating my features for the first time since yesterday.
“Only if you'll have me, good sir.” I returned politely, his brow cocking at my response. Alex ran up to me with the boys in his arms. Accepting them, life was okay. Please karma, grant me peace for the rest of my life.
Epilogue:
Alex had his head buried in his work, the twins ran around the yard. Elise read in the tree, the two kiddos looking so grown up. The morning sun bathed the idyllic scene, a good five years had passed. Holding my swollen bump, two wails snapped me out of my trance. Jack stepped out with our white haired twins Sammy and Raven, the one year old girls reaching for me. Their fiery orange and red eyes glittered with love, my arms scooping them up. Wrapping his arms around my bump, Mark was due in a couple of months.
“Alex, Elise!” He barked with his trademark grin as they rushed up to him. Elise smoothed out her white summer dress, Alex adjusting his glasses in a brisk manner. An irked look greeted him, his stern gaze shutting down any protest.
“Watch the boys for us.” He ordered lightly, passing them wrapped boxes. “I need to take your sister somewhere. Boys, go in and watch a show with your uncle and aunt.” Sprinting into the house, Alex shot him a thumbs up as he followed them inside. Guiding me down the hill and through the town, his beard kept capturing my attention. Grabbing three bouquets on the way, he dragged me to the cemetery. Stopping in front of our friends' graves, he laid a bouquet on each tombstone. Dusting off his navy designer suit, my simple orange summer dress felt like a sad attempt to match him. Rubbing my back, he kissed my bump.
“We came by to tell you how things are going. Alex and Elise are learning how to drive. Yeah, that is as scary as it sounds. Sammy and Raven’s birthday happened a couple of weeks ago. They are both one year old. Crazy, isn’t it?” He chatted pleasantly, happy tears welling up in his eyes. “We have one more on the way. It’s another boy. We are going to name him Mark. I miss you dummies every fucking day. I wouldn’t have survived if you gave me that letter. Thank you.” Wiping away his tears, Sammy and Raven cooed in my arms. Kissing the top of my head, Jack guided me to the square. Sitting me down at the fountain, he took the girls in his arms. Passing me a bundle of envelopes, they were all from the townsfolk and monsters all over the world.
“Word got out about where you live and they all wanted to write their thanks.” He explained jovially, sitting down next to me. “Read them tonight and write back. They would love to hear from you.” Flicking through the pile, this was going to take a while. Popping to my feet, I could sense that Alex was getting frustrated. Walking back home, the fact that people wanted to thank me touched my heart. Opening the door, my boys bounced towards me. Dragging me to the couch, one of Alex’s shows was playing. Climbing onto the couch next to me, Jack took the other seat next to me. Hazel skipped in, her long hair grazing the worn wooden floor. Sitting down by my feet, Elvira laid on her lap. Basking in the moment, this was how life was supposed to be. Thank you for the gift of a good life. All the tragedy led to this moment. All of the scars told the tale of my twisted journey here. Jack leaned his head on my shoulder, the boys laying on my lap. Playing with their hair, I hoped sincerely that this would never end.
submitted by Future_Ad_3485 to DrCreepensVault [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:07 BikeLifeisMyLife [PC Server] [Steam] [PvE] ✨Fire Fly Gaming Community, Since 12/2019✨

Greetings Everyone!
Our community is a friendly and helpful atmosphere you can sit back and relax with. Our goal is to provide a community driven gaming experience tailored via direct feedback from all of you :). So come on over and play with us. We'd love to have you!
Join our Discord Server for all server rules, info, announcements and shenanigans https://discord.gg/R6ARSssfhp

Ark 1 Steam Server Features:

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Ark 1 Steam Cluster Wide Mod List (Including Mod Maps) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2050946276

Ark 1 Server Settings:

These breeding rates only apply in N+ Hatchery, Incubator, Propagator and DS Soul traps to encourage dinos to be kept OUT OF WORLD....nobody likes framerate dropping messes. * Mating Interval = 10 * Mating Speed = 2 * Egg Hatch Speed = 10

* Baby Mature Speed = 10

Ark:SE PvE:

https://ark-servers.net/group/1009/
​
🧬 Abberation fireflygaming.servegame.org:20495
💎 Crystal Isles fireflygaming.servegame.org:20485
🌎 Extinction fireflygaming.servegame.org:20515
🐲 Fjördur fireflygaming.servegame.org:20585
🚀 Genesis Ship fireflygaming.servegame.org:20635
🖥 Genesis Sim (Needs Valguero DLC) fireflygaming.servegame.org:20555
🐾 Ragnarok fireflygaming.servegame.org:20535
🌵 Scorched Earth fireflygaming.servegame.org:20505
🏞 The Center fireflygaming.servegame.org:20525
🌴 The Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20475
🐑 Valguero fireflygaming.servegame.org:20545
🗺 Lost Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20615
🐴 Caballus fireflygaming.servegame.org:20645

Ark:ASCENDED PvE:

TBA ON RELEASE

Server Hardware (Self Hosted)

AMD Threadripper 3970x 32 Core Cpu 1TB NVME OS 1TB NVME SwapDrive 1TB NVME SQL 2TB ASM Backup Raid Array 12GB/s SAS Raid Array for Servers 256GB ECC 3200 DDR4 RAM Backups to NAS and Cloud Services Internet Bandwidth 1Gbps/1Gbps Fiber
submitted by BikeLifeisMyLife to SurviveTogether [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:07 BikeLifeisMyLife [PC Server] [Steam] [PvE] ✨Fire Fly Gaming Community, Since 12/2019✨

Greetings Everyone!
Our community is a friendly and helpful atmosphere you can sit back and relax with. Our goal is to provide a community driven gaming experience tailored via direct feedback from all of you :). So come on over and play with us. We'd love to have you!
Join our Discord Server for all server rules, info, announcements and shenanigans https://discord.gg/R6ARSssfhp

Ark 1 Steam Server Features:

​
Ark 1 Steam Cluster Wide Mod List (Including Mod Maps) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2050946276

Ark 1 Server Settings:

These breeding rates only apply in N+ Hatchery, Incubator, Propagator and DS Soul traps to encourage dinos to be kept OUT OF WORLD....nobody likes framerate dropping messes. * Mating Interval = 10 * Mating Speed = 2 * Egg Hatch Speed = 10

* Baby Mature Speed = 10

Ark:SE PvE:

https://ark-servers.net/group/1009/
​
🧬 Abberation fireflygaming.servegame.org:20495
💎 Crystal Isles fireflygaming.servegame.org:20485
🌎 Extinction fireflygaming.servegame.org:20515
🐲 Fjördur fireflygaming.servegame.org:20585
🚀 Genesis Ship fireflygaming.servegame.org:20635
🖥 Genesis Sim (Needs Valguero DLC) fireflygaming.servegame.org:20555
🐾 Ragnarok fireflygaming.servegame.org:20535
🌵 Scorched Earth fireflygaming.servegame.org:20505
🏞 The Center fireflygaming.servegame.org:20525
🌴 The Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20475
🐑 Valguero fireflygaming.servegame.org:20545
🗺 Lost Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20615
🐴 Caballus fireflygaming.servegame.org:20645

Ark:ASCENDED PvE:

TBA ON RELEASE

Server Hardware (Self Hosted)

AMD Threadripper 3970x 32 Core Cpu 1TB NVME OS 1TB NVME SwapDrive 1TB NVME SQL 2TB ASM Backup Raid Array 12GB/s SAS Raid Array for Servers 256GB ECC 3200 DDR4 RAM Backups to NAS and Cloud Services Internet Bandwidth 1Gbps/1Gbps Fiber
submitted by BikeLifeisMyLife to playarkservers [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:06 BikeLifeisMyLife [PC Server] [Steam] [PvE] ✨Fire Fly Gaming Community, Since 12/2019✨

Greetings Everyone!
Our community is a friendly and helpful atmosphere you can sit back and relax with. Our goal is to provide a community driven gaming experience tailored via direct feedback from all of you :). So come on over and play with us. We'd love to have you!
Join our Discord Server for all server rules, info, announcements and shenanigans https://discord.gg/R6ARSssfhp

Ark 1 Steam Server Features:

​
Ark 1 Steam Cluster Wide Mod List (Including Mod Maps) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2050946276

Ark 1 Server Settings:

These breeding rates only apply in N+ Hatchery, Incubator, Propagator and DS Soul traps to encourage dinos to be kept OUT OF WORLD....nobody likes framerate dropping messes. * Mating Interval = 10 * Mating Speed = 2 * Egg Hatch Speed = 10

* Baby Mature Speed = 10

Ark:SE PvE:

https://ark-servers.net/group/1009/
​
🧬 Abberation fireflygaming.servegame.org:20495
💎 Crystal Isles fireflygaming.servegame.org:20485
🌎 Extinction fireflygaming.servegame.org:20515
🐲 Fjördur fireflygaming.servegame.org:20585
🚀 Genesis Ship fireflygaming.servegame.org:20635
🖥 Genesis Sim (Needs Valguero DLC) fireflygaming.servegame.org:20555
🐾 Ragnarok fireflygaming.servegame.org:20535
🌵 Scorched Earth fireflygaming.servegame.org:20505
🏞 The Center fireflygaming.servegame.org:20525
🌴 The Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20475
🐑 Valguero fireflygaming.servegame.org:20545
🗺 Lost Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20615
🐴 Caballus fireflygaming.servegame.org:20645

Ark:ASCENDED PvE:

TBA ON RELEASE

Server Hardware (Self Hosted)

AMD Threadripper 3970x 32 Core Cpu 1TB NVME OS 1TB NVME SwapDrive 1TB NVME SQL 2TB ASM Backup Raid Array 12GB/s SAS Raid Array for Servers 256GB ECC 3200 DDR4 RAM Backups to NAS and Cloud Services Internet Bandwidth 1Gbps/1Gbps Fiber
submitted by BikeLifeisMyLife to ARKServers [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:06 BikeLifeisMyLife [PC Server] [Steam] [PvE] ✨Fire Fly Gaming Community, Since 12/2019✨

Greetings Everyone!
Our community is a friendly and helpful atmosphere you can sit back and relax with. Our goal is to provide a community driven gaming experience tailored via direct feedback from all of you :). So come on over and play with us. We'd love to have you!
Join our Discord Server for all server rules, info, announcements and shenanigans https://discord.gg/R6ARSssfhp

Ark 1 Steam Server Features:

​
Ark 1 Steam Cluster Wide Mod List (Including Mod Maps) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2050946276

Ark 1 Server Settings:

These breeding rates only apply in N+ Hatchery, Incubator, Propagator and DS Soul traps to encourage dinos to be kept OUT OF WORLD....nobody likes framerate dropping messes. * Mating Interval = 10 * Mating Speed = 2 * Egg Hatch Speed = 10

* Baby Mature Speed = 10

Ark:SE PvE:

https://ark-servers.net/group/1009/
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🧬 Abberation fireflygaming.servegame.org:20495
💎 Crystal Isles fireflygaming.servegame.org:20485
🌎 Extinction fireflygaming.servegame.org:20515
🐲 Fjördur fireflygaming.servegame.org:20585
🚀 Genesis Ship fireflygaming.servegame.org:20635
🖥 Genesis Sim (Needs Valguero DLC) fireflygaming.servegame.org:20555
🐾 Ragnarok fireflygaming.servegame.org:20535
🌵 Scorched Earth fireflygaming.servegame.org:20505
🏞 The Center fireflygaming.servegame.org:20525
🌴 The Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20475
🐑 Valguero fireflygaming.servegame.org:20545
🗺 Lost Island fireflygaming.servegame.org:20615
🐴 Caballus fireflygaming.servegame.org:20645

Ark:ASCENDED PvE:

TBA ON RELEASE

Server Hardware (Self Hosted)

AMD Threadripper 3970x 32 Core Cpu 1TB NVME OS 1TB NVME SwapDrive 1TB NVME SQL 2TB ASM Backup Raid Array 12GB/s SAS Raid Array for Servers 256GB ECC 3200 DDR4 RAM Backups to NAS and Cloud Services Internet Bandwidth 1Gbps/1Gbps Fiber
submitted by BikeLifeisMyLife to ARK_pc [link] [comments]