Ratite bird crossword clue

Woodpeckers.....

2023.06.09 13:25 miss_understo0d Woodpeckers.....

These fuckers are ruining my wood siding. I know it will always be an issue, but now I have baby birds living in my walls. I saw you can hang reflective things but we've done it in the past to no avail.
Recently I had to wait 3 weeks for birds to grow and leave my wall.. now my brother is telling me on the wall of his bedroom there's another family. Luckily they're not woodpecker babies they're robins of sorts.. but it's obnoxious. We are going to patch all the holes this weekend, besides the one with the living babies and patch that up too once they leave the nest. Had a pest guy come out, luckily the state I live in termites are pretty much non existent unless they're imported cause they die in the winter, but he told me this is always going to be a problem unless I get different siding. The amount of money that would cost.. I can't even begin to imagine. but would it be worth it in the end to put the money toward it to sell it in the future? The wood siding is beautiful but way more expensive to replace.
Tldr: woodpeckers making holes in wood siding
No termites
Baby birds living in walls
Should I replace siding with alternative material? Is it worth the money to do since it's an ongoing problem?
How do I get the woodpeckers to stop making holes that has worked for you, or someone else in experience?
I should note.. I'm a first time homeowner and I have no clue what I'm doing half the time.

submitted by miss_understo0d to Home [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 11:49 Distinct_Ad_7114 Key Answer to QR Code Recipients Crossword Clue

submitted by Distinct_Ad_7114 to qrcodegenerator [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 06:03 Objective_Campaign82 Sins of the Father Ch36 (Hellworlder pirates 2)

Standing and moving still brought the Arbiter a lot of pain. But the Law’s grim enforcer couldn’t let anyone see that weakness. Especially not with the pirate before them and the very same assassin who had nearly killed them weeks before beneath that pirate’s foot.
The Arbiter had only just been cleared for light duty and decided to spend that time with the Officers in charge of watching the pirates Demon ship. They weren’t ADCU since those officers couldn’t be wasted on a simple stakeout. The Arbiter however had been assured the Officers in charge there were the best they had. But not two minutes within the stakeout tent the Arbiter had learned that the pirate Captain had slipped past the officers assigned to tail her. And more disturbingly that every pirate who left the Astaroth had slipped their tails with disdainful ease.

The utter lack of concern had further stoked their fury. According to the officer on duty every pirate that left eventually made a mess of something and stirred up a minor disturbance. And that only a few that left were unaccounted for.

The complete lack of awareness for how shady and suspicious all that should have sounded baffled the Arbiter’s mind. They knew crime and violence didn’t come so naturally to other species as it did for the Arbiter’s human mind. But the failure to make such a basic connection that the pirates were creating distractions so that other pirates could do their work covertly, screamed at incompetence.
That led to the Arbiter learning that all the officers in charge of the overwatch operation were actually low level beat cops and file clerks. Looking into the system used to select these officers the Arbiter learned that they weren’t just incompetent, but so incompetent that the staggering number of negative reports had confused the filing system and had placed them into the highest bracket of trusted officers. The system was made to calculate negative values but couldn’t properly place such incompetent people into their proper bracket because there wasn’t a bracket appropriately low enough to place them into. So instead it simply went past the lowest level and placed them into the highest level.
And of course such poor officers couldn’t simply be fired because the officers workers union would make a fuss. Which meant the SS couldn’t replace these idiots with any slightly more intelligent sapients.
The bureaucratic idiocy was so infuriating that the Arbiter had lashed out at a nearby pole before they could think better of it. The pole snapped at the impact, fell over, and collapsed half the tent with it.
After that little outburst the Arbiter decided to take a walk and calm down. Only to stumble upon the missing pirate captain locked in a life-or-death battle with the very same assassin who had ambushed them just weeks before.
The Arbiter hadn’t been there for the start of the fight, but simple deduction was enough to reason that the assassin had likely initiated the conflict. They had mentioned Astarte’s name on the night of the attack. And the Pirate had no reason to seek out and attack the assassin.
During that fight The Arbiter had barely survived their encounter with the assassin. The assassin’s prosthetic modifications presented a gap in power that the Arbiter just couldn’t bridge. But despite fighting what should have been a one sided battle, the pirate was doing surprisingly well. In fact if the Arbiter was any judge, Astarte seemed to have a slight advantage.
Not in speed, power, or endurance. The assassin’s mechanical body was simply too powerful for a human to matchup. But in skill Astarte out matched the mechanical assassin.
Astarte dodged and weaved without effortless ease, getting past the assassin’s guard to strike at their, or her, mechanical body. If the assassin hadn’t been a machine then Astarte would have won by now, even with the gap in power.
Rachel felt slightly ashamed at her own poor showing against the assassin when compared to Astarte’s fight. The shame then quickly burned into anger as the Arbiter gripped the rifle at their side and pulled it out to try and shoot the assassin. Unlike the Arbiter had been that night, Astarte was wearing that ridiculous dark red armor and had a sword like she was some sort of space samurai. The Arbiter had done well that night, and their lack of superior weaponry had been their only flaw. One that had been amended with the addition of a more powerful pulse rifle.
They tried to line up a shot on the assassin that wouldn’t hit Astarte, when Astarte began to speak. “You wanna know the funny part. Greyson didn’t even care that you were gone.”
Wait, did these two share a past. The Arbiter guessed that old saying about birds of a feather was true. Who was Greyson? Some sort of man they had both known?
“Didn’t even question me about. Just said ‘Zera’s gone, now you will guard my back’” the pirate continued. “Then not even a week later I was second in command and got to sleep in his comfy bed.” The pirate gave her attacker a sloppy lascivious grin.
“And then you killed him like the deceptive whore you are!” the assassin spat, her attacks becoming sloppier with more openings.
Where these two quarreling over a man? The Arbiter felt bile rise into their throat. Two of the deadliest human women they had ever seen fighting over some man they had known. Pathetic. No man was worth that. Especially not whoever this Greyson bastard was given how quickly he had let the pirate into his bed after his first girlfriend disappeared.
Wait, Greyson, pirate, dead. Were they talking about the infamous human pirate, Byron Greyson? The one who had been a menace to the Femeri system, who was responsible for the disappearance of over thirty thousand humans and the deaths of many more? The one whose headless body had turned up one day aboard the drifting remains of the Black Saint? It couldn’t be, right?
But the rise of the Astaroth and Astarte had happened shortly before Greyson’s mysterious death. It seemed too coincidental.
“Of course I did, I refused to be the latest women he ruined and dumped into the gutter. Face it, your days were numbered. If it wasn’t me it would have been him.” The pirate said with a derisive sneer.
A bit callous and mercenary, but if they were discussing Greyson then likely not inaccurate.
The assassin however didn’t see that logic. “LIAR!” she screamed as she flew into a rage.
Then the Arbiter saw the reasoning behind Astarte’s taunts. This assassin was dangerously unhinged, and Astarte was using that to bait her into a trap.
The next sequence of attacks was too fast for the Arbiter to follow. A sword hilt to the face, followed by something launching out of the assassin’s arm. Then somehow Astarte had her other arm in her grip and flipped the assassin over a shoulder. With the assassin on the ground, Astarte quickly pressed one leg to their back, and with the arm in hand began to pull. The assassins sudden ultrasonic scream made the Arbiter vison darken at the edges, and maybe caused their ears to bleed a little.
Then the arm came out with a pop and the screaming stopped.
The pirate looked at the arm for a second, before lifting it above her head and swinging it down into the assassin’s head. The loud conk of metal on metal was enough to startle the Arbiter out of her awe and terror.
The barrel of their pulse cannon lifted up with Astarte centered in its sight “FREEZE!” the Arbiter roared with all their might.
Astarte paused mid swing, looked towards the Arbiter, and then raised both of her hands above her head. As well as the assassins severed arm. “It was self defense.” The pirate said quickly.
The Arbiter could have sworn they saw a flash of red. But it happened so fast that they weren’t sure if it was really there. And if it was then why would the pirates eye flash red?
The eye crossed by a gruesome scar. Did the pirate have a glass color changing eye?
No, her eyes were both clearly moving around and focusing on things like they should. Could it be cybernetic? Those were supposed to be impossible, too complicated to properly miniaturize with current technology.
It was something to investigate.
The Arbiter had been so focused on Astarte that they hadn’t been watching the assassin close enough. In a movement the Arbiter hadn’t seen the assassin threw Astarte off her back before popping up to her feet. Astarte went down onto the ground and the assassin lurched forward to attack her downed foe. But before she could reach the pirate three quick blasts from the Arbiters rifle stopped her in her tracks.
One had winged her side, another went wide. But the third had caught her right where a liver should have been. The assassin stuttered, but wasn’t dead. They dodged the next shot by ducking and then the second by somehow leaping ten meters into the air and onto a window seal. The assassin looked down on the two women and was clearly judging their chances at victory. But with an, admittable impressive, one-handed springlike flip Astarte was back on her feet, sword ready for another round.
The assassin’s strange mechanical face scowled before another impossible jump sent her over a nearby building and out of sight.
The Arbiter relaxed once the assassin was gone, but Astarte didn’t. The pirate turned, grabbed the Arbiters gloved hand, and pulled her into a jog down the open alleyway. “Come on, there’s an open lot nearby. Can’t jump us from there.” She said without looking back as she dragged the Arbiter along.
For a stunned few seconds Rachel stared at the strong hand grasping her own smaller one. But then the Arbiter saw the logic in Astarte’s worry and forced their hand to release the pirate and ran alongside her.
A few times the Arbiter had noticed a thin humanoid shadow leap between the buildings above them, but a quick turn down an alley from Astarte had them moving away from the incoming ambush from the assassin chasing them via roof tops. In no time at all they made it to an open loading dock for a nearby warehouse. Astarte ran into its center and scanned the roof tops, the Arbiter followed suit.
The Arbiter and the Pirate stood back to back, each searching for any signs of the mutual foe.
“There!” Astarte shouted while pointing her finger at a roof top.
The Arbiter stared up, but couldn’t see anything. But following the pirate’s direction they raised their rifle and shot at the edge of the building Astarte had pointed at. The blasts landed and then the crouched figure of the assassin rose up and backed away.
How had the pirate seen her? The Arbiter spared her a glance and saw a second flash of red before the pirate shifted her head.
“You should call for backup.” The pirate stated while still scanning the roof tops.
“To arrest the assassin?” the Arbiter asked before they could think better of it.
Astarte snorted. “Wouldn’t trust any SS to arrest a dead log, let alone Zera. But more witnesses might scare her off.”
Two things stood out in that statement, the assassin’s apparent name, and “SS, is that supposed to be short for station security?”
“Schutzstaffel actually, its just a strange coincidence they line up” the Pirate joked wryly.
The Arbiter scowled “You think the Station security are like the Nazi’s?” The Arbiter’s lessons about the various evil factions during Earths history had left her with nightmares for years. Crucifixion, death by a thousand cuts, blood eagles, and the like had disturbed their six-year-old mind. Their lessons had spent weeks on all the evils humanity inflicted upon each other, all the way until First contact.
“If the kinky boot fits.” Astarte said while examining the Arbiter’s own black boots.
The Arbiter swished their cloak to hide their boots, and the pirates gaze snapped back up to the rooftops. The Arbiter made the call, and the idiots in charge of the tent said they would need a few minutes to ‘locate’ their rifles and arm shields. Why they had to be located in the first place confused the Arbiter? They couldn’t be so incompetent as to not know where their weapons were, right?”
Tense minutes past before Astarte let out a sigh of relief. “I think she gave up.” she then shot the Arbiter an accusing glare “I almost had the bitch. If you hadn’t interfered we wouldn’t have to worry about her coming back.”
"You expect me to stand by while you committed murder?” The Arbiter growled, now stepping back from the pirate and reaching for a set of cuffs.
The pirate frowned, then glanced up as if recalling a distant memory. “I… ugh felt my life was in imminent danger, and feared for my life while facing down a clearly aggressive and violent deathworlder with a weapon. I used whatever objects I could find at the time…I carry no weapons and was forced to use ceremonial objects in crude, and ugh…unusual ways for self defense. I did not think retreat was possible so I acted to end the threat” she said in a bland staccato rhythm of everyone reciting words from memory. Her words obviously citing several different laws pertaining to self-defense.
The Arbiter felt an eye twitch. “The law pertaining to Deathworlder assailants was not intended to include Deathworlder victims.” The Arbiter said slowly.
Astarte shrugged “Union vs. Trevor Philips established that the enforcement of the law was done by the letter of the law, not the spirit. By that ruling and precedent I acted reasonably and was within my rights for self-defense. Any attempt to detain me would result in punitive measures from my legal representation.”
In all their time on the ADCU the Arbiter had never encountered a criminal so well versed in the intricacies of Union law. Some loop holes were well known, and easy for Officers to circumvent in order to attain an arrest. But the Arbiter hadn’t encountered something like this before.
The Arbiter looked down and noticed the sword she still held, red blood from the pirate running down its blade. “So that sword isn’t a weapon?” The Arbiter asked pointedly.
The feline smile that covered Astarte’s face sent shivers up their spine. “My dear officer, as you can notice I am of half Japanese heritage, a hafu if you will. I am dressing in the traditional fashions of my people. The armor, the katana, and the wakizashi are all hallmarks of the samurai I am descended from. None of these are worn for anything beyond cultural heritage. And for that matter, my crew wear the same to honor my ancestry.”
The Arbiter sighed. Astarte’s defense, though blatantly false, was airtight. Arresting her now would only give her ammunition to legally strike back. And with the recent backlash of the Deathworlder crack down the Arbiter could doom Judge’s career. It had been a celebrated move of the last chief, but the knock-on effects of it had resulted in several months of rioting, looting, and political discourse in the heart of the Union. The last chief was forced to step down and Judge took his place and was still trying to reverse the damages. Which was hard with all the precincts fighting him on it. Those officers had too many friends torn apart by Terran criminals to ever let that grudge go.
“Then you may leave the arm behind and be one your way.” The Arbiter ordered.
Astarte blinked, “the arm?”
The Arbiter pointed to the severed arm still within the pirate’s grasp “That is evidence in an on going investigation. LEAVE. IT. BEHIND” The Arbiter explained, growling out the last words slowly. Just because Astarte had likely saved the Arbiter’s life with some quick thinking didn’t erase the fact that she was a person of interest/suspect in the same case.
Astarte glanced down at the severed arm and blinked as if surprised she was still holding it. Then tossed it carelessly onto the ground. “All yours, make sure to check for bugs before plugging it in.”
“Bugs?”
“Computer viruses hidden in its OS. Thing could have all sorts of things hidden within.”
“And how do you know?”
“I don’t. It’s just the sort of thing I would do myself. Try loading it onto a separate server. Oh, and check for small explosives.”
“Danm Deathworlders” the Arbiter growled as they now considered the severed arm on the ground next to a small splatter of Astarte’s blood. She was right, Deathworlders were known for their tricks and traps. Humans especially. During one investigation a load of seized morphine from an illegal clinic had been stored next to an unstable chemical that reacted poorly to the jostling of the transport and destroyed the evidence in a fiery explosion.
Astarte chuckled “Glass stones Arbiter.”
“What?”
“Glass stones, it’s a human malaphor of sorts. I’ll leave the details for you to figure out. Good luck with tracking down Zera, I’d recommend starting with the prison records on Union Station Parox.” She said as she turned aways and strode off. Walking in the opposite direction of the arriving officers, half of which were missing their weapons or shields.
The Arbiter let out a sigh as she observed the most incompetent idoits she had ever seen strut onto the lot without a care in the universe.
“You called us Sir.” The lead Voral said.
The Arbiter took in a deep breath “Yes I did. Ten minutes ago.”
“It was a long walk.” The officer said defensively, no care for the Arbiters growing anger.
“Its only a few hundred standard meters. But that doesn’t matter I encountered an assassin in the midst of their crime. That’s their arm.”
The Voral looked panicked and began to look from side to side.
The Arbiter felt an involuntary eye twitch and clenched her fist. “The assassin is gone.”
The Voral relaxed “So you want us to secure the evidence?” he asked.
That had been the Arbiters plan, but now seeing them mill about aimlessly they changed their mind. “No, secure the area and stay out of CSI’s way. Understood?”
The officer looked offended. “Sir, its just an arm. We don’t need to wait around for CSI, one of my men can bag it right now.”
Patience wearing thin the Arbiter marched right into the Voral’s face. The fact the Officer loomed over her by two meters did little to diminish the Arbiter’s menacing aura. “AM. I. UNDERSTOOD?”
“Yes Sir.” The cowed Voral officer answered with a nervous buzz of his wings.
“Then go.”
Ten minutes later six medium shuttles from the CSI unit, and two small shuttles from the ADCU were on the scene of the lot and in the alley where the Arbiter had stumbled upon Astarte. Edict and Prosecutor began to jump along the rooftops, recreating the assassin’s movements and collecting more evidence.
The assassin’s arm, and the dried sample of Astarte’s blood was collected. As well as fragments of what looked to be a broken glass eye with a micro camera.
They lost the assassin’s trail after they ducked into the inner hull of the station and escaped across the pipes, wires, and support structure of Unity.
Thirty minutes after that they departed for the central precinct. The Arbiter within the darkened confines of the ADCU shuttle felt safe enough to take off the hood. Caleb and Bartolv did the same. They noticed her pensive mood and didn’t disturb her.
It wasn’t lost on her that Astarte knew exactly who this assassin was. And if she hadn’t left those pretty blatant clues about how to identify her then then Rachel would be trying to acquire a warrant to bring her in for questioning. But that still left her with a lot of questions.
And despite the answers she might get, she had the sinking feeling it wouldn’t be enough to see the whole picture. How big was this whole thing?
Previous/Patreon/Next

submitted by Objective_Campaign82 to HFY [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 04:07 prayfordoom Let's discuss the unseen powers like The Far Spider and the Midov and what they might be. For this post I'll focus on the The Crack and Fields along with some insight about the strange, unknown, beings we see throughout KPH stories.

Stories I'm going to use information from: Elements, Fields, The Crack, Sleep, and Transit.
Here's what I have written regarding some of the antagonistic forces we encounter throughout the KPH cannon.
So, Fields and The Crack have people being manipulated by an intrusive force/entity that causes confusion, delusions, possibly creates visages, and can influence disturbing dreams. It seems that in fields and the crack that this anomaly only occurs in these specific locations where humans are rarely present. Both completely infiltrate the mind of those on "it's land" and seemingly does this effortlessly without the person even knowing that possession is slowly taking place, so it's one of the more powerful forces in KPH cannon. I'm going to say both stories are being targeted by the same force/being.
The baker is someone yall have talked about a little on this page. The baker is simply the manifestation that this entity takes on so that it can control and influence thoughts in order to lure and kill the people who it sees as an intruder. A similar phenomena happens in Fields when the unseen power of an ancient, primordial being who is older than humanity itself is accidently discovered by the family living near the field in the early 1900s. This time we see a more carnal form of this energy when it appears as a humanoid like abomination with a terrifying face and unknown abilities like hovering or taking the chopping block and putting it next to the decrepit barn when the father goes to explore inside. In Fields this being uses birds to be it's primary form, the vulture is most likely this entity itself and the other birds are just under it's control. We don't know what it did to Jill while it was in her tent all night; it's likely that it was invading her mind while she slept so that way it can start the process of possessing he. It does succeed in taking over Jill in merely a few days so it's extremely powerful in it's psychic abilities. We also know females are more prone to this energy's influence so this might be why it was able to possess Jill so quickly. Apparently males have a harder neurological defense when it comes to the invasive attack of this being. So it will target a woman if one is available.
Once a human is under this trance like state it can fully control your body and even speak. An interesting side note is when we get a glimpse into this beings mindset when it uses Jill to speak through when approaching the protagonist. This is what is said, with a pained voice
"WHY DO ALL YOU BUGS COME SO CLOSE."x2
This is the only one sentence spoken but it tells you all you need to know about how to approach this entity or possibly contain its influence over humans. These are the only words we hear from a supernatural force in KPH stories; most of the time Soren keeps his details regarding paranormal occurrences out of the text so we're left so assume whatever we want, despite the killing of humans, this entity is fairly tame in its actions though we have no clue where it came from and what it wants. We mostly get little to no information on the forces that are at work in many of these KPH stories. This post is made simply bc I noticed these patterns throughout the lore and there's obviously some sort of alien lifeforms playing with humanity in vicious ways. My guess is this being possibly resides in the depths of Lake Baikal in Russia and is responsible for the events in the story titled Chasm an entity that lurks in this world that it dwells in the depths of our oceans. , we can safely say this creature wants to be left alone and doesn't seem to actively reach out to anyone previously infected by its influence so it's territory is simply being defended and we don't seem to have any problems with it existing all alone in an old rural city. like we see in Fields and The Crack, all the people it had any influence on recover with their health after they are out of the boundaries of this creatures hostility so it doesn't seem interested in perusing it's victims after they vacate the is it's first response bc it's territorial. It's an alien to us for all we
This energy comes from what I am certain is, The Far Spider, which is mentioned with the most detail in 'elements' where Fiona makes a pact with this being in order to transform into something obscure. This form would be nothing but rage and destruction, this is bc Fiona is full of regret and wrath due to her life experiences that scarred her for life and sent her down a path of the occult with her little coven of women who live in a small community in the woods. Greta tries to stop Fiona from evolving into a monstrosity for The Far Spider to use as a pawn, it doesn't care about Fiona but she is convinced this is her destiny. But we all know how it ends for her, spoiler, she is burned alive during her last trial. This Far Spider is something I'd compare to a Lovecraftian creation who we can't comprehend for it exists in a higher dimension than ours and possibly higher than the spirit realm that we sometimes have crossings with but this is out of our plain of understanding we will never know this things motives or goals, it's a dangerous and powerful entity that will always be an enigma to us.
If this post goes well then ill work on a part two where I draw connections between stories like Vision, The Crack, Sleep, Transit, Impound, Sisters, Outcast, Sounds, and of course the most infamous of them all Rebirth. I will talk in depth about the things that plague our protagonists have to face. This will include for example the powerful being called the Far Spider and what it's role is, and also the oddity's happening throughout transit, we can figure out a way to link all these beings.

submitted by prayfordoom to knifepointhorrorcast [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 02:38 lcelerate Petrine is a pretty competent general

Introduction

Petrine is often an overlooked villain due to the fact she is underneath both Ashnard and Black Knight in terms of Daein's hierarchy and power. Most people notice how ruthless she can be as that is quite apparent but often overlook how cunning she is. She is often referred to as the same archetype as Narcian and Valter, the crazy evil general you must fight before late game which makes her come off as less competent than she truly is.

Chapter 5

Petrine is introduced after Daein fails to capture Princess Elincia and while it is ambiguous it is implied, she will execute the leader for his failure. This shows she's very ruthless, arguably to the detriment of Daein's army as fighting to the death isn't always better than a tactical retreat. However, it is Daein army's motto, and we know Ashnard is Daein's leader so one can argue she's compelled to obey his orders and is arguably being more ruthless than she otherwise would be.

Petrine: “What? What did you just say? I think I must be hearing things. I thought you said, “They got away.””
Dakova: “Ge-General Petrine. I am deeply ashamed. By my honor…”
Petrine: “Honor? I care nothing for your pathetic honor. Have you forgotten the Daein army’s motto? Success or failure, life or death. Hey, you! Get this trash out of here!”
Daein Soldier : “Yes, ma’am! Move it, you.”
Dakova: “W-wait! General Petrine, have mercy…”
Petrine: “Dog’s breath! I’m surrounded by worthless imbeciles. Ena!”

Anyway, Petrine is quick to ask Ena for advice on where the Greil Mercenaries are heading. Once Petrine is told they are heading to Gallia, she quickly takes the initiative to hunt them down. While this could be reckless compared to waiting for Ena to gather intel. However, one could argue this is actually smart despite her arrogant overconfidence due to the fact they must be defeated before they arrive to Gallia.

Petrine: “Tell me which way we should move to catch these mercenaries and the girl.”
Ena: “…The Crimean capital, Melior, is already under King Ashnard’s control…The remnants of the Crimean army are neglible…Which means the only place left for the princess to turn is south, to the kingdom of Gallia.”
Petrine: “Hah! So the girl, like her dead father before her, seeks the friendship of those hairy devils, eh? What an absolutely stupefying world we live in.”
Ena: “If she gains sanctuary in Gallia, capturing the princess will become that much more difficult….The mercenaries she has escorting her are a powerful group, not one to be taken lightly. I will gather intelligence on them as quickly as…”
Petrine: “It’s not necessary. I will head up the pursuit of our wandering princess.”
Ena: “General Petrine, you will go…yourself?”
Petrine: “If we know where the princess and her band are headed, there’s no need for subtlety. I’ll just hunt them down and kill them. Mercenaries? Hah! What’re they to me? Remember, I am General Petrine! No matter who I face, I have never failed, nor will I ever! Ha ha ha…”

Chapter 6

So Petrine had already taken the initiative of sending scouts to track them and figures out they are making their way through the forest in Crimea near Gallia. We learn how Petrine was angry with Ena being her tactician, but she still ended up asking her for advice in the previous chapter which goes to show that despite looking down on her allies, she gives them a fair chance.

Daein Soldier: “…And that’s when we lost track of them. I assigned a squad to pursue them and returned so I could give you this report.”
Petrine: “Understood. You may step down.”
Petrine: “So Princess Elincia is making her way through the forest to Gallia…Ena!”
Petrine: “It appears your advice was sound. Well done. You have earned my praise.”
Ena: “Thank you.”
Petrine: “When the king assigned me a tactician, I wondered what I had done to lose his trust. When I saw it was a young girl,I burned with anger at the king’s judgment. Still, it’s worked out better than I had expected. Keep up the good work.”
Ena: “Of course.”
Petrine: “Now then, it’s time for the hunt to begin.”

Soren forms a plan to send Greil, Shinon and Gatrie as an elite diversionary force to distract the Daein army waiting for them at the edge of the forest which could allow the main force to cut through the weakened Daein force that is guarding the point of exit.

Greil: “Hold it right there, everyone. We’re coming to the edge of the forest. Form up. Combat positions.”
Titania: “I don’t suppose our Daein pursuers were willing to let us just slip away.”
Soren: “There is no doubt that they will attack again. Without knowing their numbers, it is difficult to advise a course of action.”
Greil: “Take your best guess, Soren. With the limited information we have, what is the best way to proceed?”
Soren: “…Some of our group cannot fight. If we are caught, we’ll have a difficult time defending them and attacking the Daeins. I propose we separate into two groups: a small fighting force to engage the enemy and buy the main group some time, and the rest of us–who will escort the princess to Gallia at full speed.”

However, the plan fails due to the Daein army being concentrated in the location where Ike's force emerges preventing Greil from distracting them at a different point. Petrine being the overall commander of these troops as well as promising to begin the hunt must have been able to deduce where the main force would emerge allowing her to foil Soren's diversion strategy. In summary, she shows that she's good at predicting the movements of her enemy.

Ike: “So they’re waiting for us after all…”
Soren: “There are…more of them than I’d imagined there would be. I thought they would have been spread out across the forest border…I didn’t expect to see so many in one place.”
Ike: “Do we rethink our strategy?”
Soren: “No, we’ve already split up. It’s too late to reconsider now.”

Chapter 7

Ike is looking for his father in a fort but ends up getting ambushed by Daein soldiers. Soon after, Petrine shows up and orders Ike to give Elincia up or die but good thing is that Ike had already managed to send her to Gallia by the end of chapter 6 although she doubts he's telling the truth.

Petrine: “Ha ha ha…Found you at last. You provided more entertainment than I thought you would.”
Ike: “Who are you?”
Petrine: “Me? I am General Petrine, and my arrival marks your doom. Lament your fortune,dear children, for all hope is lost. You will not leave this place alive.”
Soren: “Petrine…of the Four Riders of Daein?”
Ike: “Do you know her, Soren?”
Soren: “If she’s who I think, then she’s one of the four generals who are King Daein’s most trusted confidants. She is said to wield a flame lance of terrible arcane might.”
Petrine: “Ha ha ha…You’ve heard of me? Why, I’m flattered. I’ll try to make this easy on all of you. Give me the princess, and do it now. If I roast the girl along with you curs, I won’t be able to present her head to His Majesty.”
Ike: “Sorry to tell you this, but the princess isn’t here. She’s been in Gallia for quite some time now.”
Petrine: “What…nonsense is that? Do you expect me to believe you? There’s no way mercenary scum like you could get past my troops!”

Soon Greil shows up and calls her out on her arrogance.

Greil: “They say that blind arrogance sows the field of its own destruction. Something tells me they were talking about you.”
Petrine: “Who–“

He challenges her to a one on one duel which proves to be too tantalizing as she does like to fight against strong opponents even though she was smart enough to know it was a ruse.

Greil: “You said your name was Petrine, is that right? Listen up. This place is nowhere near big enough. There’s not enough room for a true contest between the two of us. I’m going elsewhere. You coming?”
Petrine: “Do you actually think I’m going to fall for such a simple ruse?”
Greil: “You and I, we’ve got more power than the average person. We don’t come across a chance like this too often. I’d like to flex my muscles without any distractions getting in the way. You?”
Petrine: “Ha ha…You really do know how to sweet talk a girl, don’t you? All right, I’m coming.”
Greil: “Over here.”

Greil was right that Petrine was too arrogant but despite Petrine being on the verge of defeat, it sounds like she has a plan to turn things around.

Petrine: “Dog’s breath! Who are you, man? You look like a common sellsword, but you fight like a demon!”
Greil: “What’s wrong? Ready to surrender?”
Petrine: “And admit defeat? Me? Dont’t be absurd…”

Well Petrine's reinforcements show up and box the Greil Mercenaries in which shows why she was so confident in taking on Greil. She had a contingency in place in case Greil proved to be too strong which goes to show while she can be quite arrogant, she thinks ahead.

Daein Soldier: “Here they are! Over here!”
Ike: “Blast. Enemy reinforcements! Father! Let’s get out of here! There are too many–“
Greil: “…Looks like I’ve got no choice.”
Petrine: “Ha ha ha ha…So now, the tide has turned, hasn’t it?”
Petrine: “All troops, attack! Kill them! Kill them all!”
Greil: “Hm…Looks like our luck’s run out.”
Ike: “Father!”
Greil: “You have to survive this, Ike. I’m not going to lose you, not in this place. Are you ready?”
Ike: “Yes, Commander!”
Petrine: “You’ve nowhere to run. Curse whatever gods you hold, for they have abandoned you!”

Granted, she did end up getting her army ambushed from behind by the laguz foiling her strategy.

Ike: “What was that?”
Daein Soldier: “B-b-beasts! Gallian beast soldiers!”
Daein Soldier: “R-r-run! We’re going to be torn to shreds!”
Petrine: “Stand your ground, all of you! Don’t panic! I will personally slaughter the first man to turn his back on the enemy!”
Daein soldier: “Noooo!”
Daein Soldier: “B-b-beasts!”
Petrine: “Pfeh. Worthless cowards, one and all.”
Ranulf: “Attention, Daein soldiers! Leave this place at once! If you do not comply immediately, you will face Gallia’s full strength!”

To her credit, originally she did not know that Elincia had already gotten away to Gallia to call for help, let alone fast enough for Gallia to mobilize troops and reach them in time. Even Ike was surprised at Elincia and the laguz showing up despite him knowing that Elincia had reached Gallia.

Ike: “Princess Elincia…Why did you return here?=”
Ranulf: “The princess came and requested Gallian aid for your mercenary company. That is what brings us here.”

Petrine shows a lot of bravery and is willing to continue the fight even when her underlings flee which may sound dumb but those are Ashnard's orders. It goes to show he's more of a dumb brute than she is. Anyway, much like how the Greil Mercenaries were saved by the laguz, Petrine is saved by the Black Knight and he promises to convince Ashnard to explain her retreat.

Petrine: “Threaten me all you like. It’s not going to frighten me off. If I leave, His Majesty will have me executed. I’d rather die here in battle, with my honor intact.”
Black Knight: “Withdraw, General Petrine.”
Petrine: “The Black Knight…”
Black Knight: “As for your king, you have nothing to fear. I’ll explain things to him. Take your men and go.”
Petrine: “Tsk! All troops, fall back!”

Chapter 19

When Ike invades Daein, Petrine decides to hire Naesala to fight alongside Daein to counter the invasion. She pays part of the cost upfront while promising to pay the rest afterwards, striking a balance between Daein's interests and Kilvas' interests. All of this goes to show she too is quite pragmatic and cunning.

Naesala: General Petrine, Kilvas will always stand at Daein's side... As long as we receive our payment, of course.
Petrine: If gold is all it takes, then may our friendship never end. See to it that your performance warrants such consideration! Homasa! Come here!
Homasa: Yes.
Petrine: Work with King Kilvas and put a stop to Crimea's army. No screw ups! Or else!
Homasa: Leave it to me, General.
Petrine: I will not suffer another failure, King Kilvas. You must finish them, and do so quickly...Are we clear? Arrr! I am sick to death of being made a fool by that Crimean floozy and her pathetic band of sellswords!
Naesala: And the remaining portion of my fee?
Petrine: Don't worry, we have it ready. You'll get paid when the job is done.
Naesala: As long as we're clear on that point, everything's settled. Well then, I'm off.

The same Naesala was so cunning he managed to outwit Morris, one of Daein's commanders, into creating an enemy with Begnion so that he can steal both of their treasures while they fight amongst each other.

Norris: Grrr...Look at this mess! I paid you good money to help me outmaneuver everyone else and catch the Crimean princess's ship first. Everything seemed to be going exactly as we'd planned. But now, we're being attacked by a squad of pegasus knights! We're flying no flags! We've stripped our armor of any crests! They should have no clue who we are! Why are they attacking us!?
Naesala: Call it a miscommunication...One of those unfortunate misunderstandings that seem to happen now and again.
Norris: You deceitful...King Kilvas! I wouldn't be surprised if you'd planned this treachery from the start!
Naesala: Such unkind words! You wound me. I would never intentionally lie to you. And as proof, I bring good news. I have it on unshakable authority that the ship that just sailed up alongside Begnion's carries the Crimean princess.
Norris: Oh...But unless we can break through the Begnion ranks, there's nothing we can do...
Naesala: Would you care for some assistance?
Norris: And what would it cost me this time?
Naesala: You learn quickly, my friend. Let's see, you'd be receiving my own royal assistance, so...double--no, triple rates. ---------------------------------------------
Naesala: We should take advantage of the confusion of battle to help ourselves to the cargo. These humans seem interested only in fighting their fellow men. If they can't be bothered to defend their treasure, I think it fair to say they've lost their claim to it.

Naesala does betray when Reyson talks to him which does foil Petrine's plan. However, Naesala does forfeit his right to gold. Furthermore, Naesala only betrayed her because Reyson joined Ike's army and because Naesala needed to make up to Reyson for selling him to Oliver. Petrine is not privy to these two facts so its not like she made a blunder due to oversight/miscalculation on her part.

Reyson Oh, yes! Friends! In fact, we're such good friends that you sold me to that foul, bloated man!
Naesala I didn't really sell you! Besides, I planned on rescuing you right away. You were just impatient and flew away on your own, so--
Reyson Are you blaming me?
Naesala No, no! Well, maybe... I mean...It was I who was in the wrong. On all accounts.
Reyson ...
Naesala No one was hurt in the end. Come on, smooth those ruffled feathers. All right?
Reyson Leanne is alive.
Naesala Yes, Tibarn's attendant told me. That's wonderful news. When he sees her face, I'm sure King Lorazieh will begin to feel better at once. Things are really looking up, aren't they, Reyson?
Reyson ...I suppose that... If you hadn't deceived me and taken me to the forest... We might not have discovered her... So, I will forgive you. Just this once!
Naesala Reyson! Oh, that's--
Reyson WITH...conditions. Will you accept them?
Naesala ...What are they?
Reyson Pull your troops from this battle. Now. And never again enter into combat against your fellow laguz.
Naesala Oh, come now, Reyson. That's asking too much--
Reyson What will you do, then? Will you continue to fight the Crimean army to which I'm in service?
Naesala Very well. You win, Reyson. I'll leave and take my soldiers with me. However, I cannot say what the future will bring. I have the fate of my nation to consider after all.

Chapter 20

Once Ike's army approaches Talrega, Petrine forms a clever yet devious strategy to slow him down and exhaust the army. Also, this shows she understands how much of a threat Ike is and isn't going to underestimate him unlike a lot of other villains who only lose because they underestimate the heroes and toy with them.

Shiharam Yet, that's... General Petrine! If we do this thing, Daein will suffer.
Petrine It's for the good of the country. Besides, it's only one territory! Stop mewling like an old woman.
Shiharam I hear you, and yet...If the goal is merely to stop the Crimean army, this is not necessary. The strength of my troops will suffice to--
Petrine The last idiot who told me that ended up on a corpse pile! Now listen to me, and listen well. No matter how passionate you are when you tell me you'll defeat Crimea, I'll never pin my hopes on a bunch of foreigners. All you have to do is stop their forward progress. That's all. My plan will accomplish this.

The strategy was the flood the area which turned the ground into mud making it hard for ground units to traverse the terrain. What makes the strategy even more effective is that Shiharam's army is mostly wyvern knights who fly so it doesn't impact them as much as Ike's army.

Bengion Soldier General Ike! Sir, we've got trouble! The road ahead is blocked by water!
Elincia What? How can that be?
Bengion Soldier Perhaps a local river has flooded. The whole region is soaking wet.
Ike Is the road completely impassable?
Bengion Soldier No, sir! We can move forward, but the water's turned the ground to mud. And the water is still flowing at a tremendous rate, sir! This is going to cut back our speed dramatically.
Soren This is the work of Daein. They thought to impede our progress in order to gain some time for themselves. And they've succeeded.

While Ike certainly wins the battle, it has slowed him down due to him distributing his supplies to the refugees of Talrega who have lost their homes in the flood along with the fact it was a hard fought battle due to the terrain conditions.

Ike: Soren. Take a portion of our supplies and distribute it among the locals.
Soren: What? Are you serious?
Ike: Our opponent is the Daein army. We've no quarrel with these people.
Soren: Ike, I know you feel for these people, but this is war! We don't have--
Ike: I don't know what it will accomplish, Soren. But, moving on without lifting a finger is something I cannot do.
Titania: I understand. I'd rather regret something I had done than regret taking no action at all.
Elincia: I would like to help, too. Perhaps I can aid the injured.
Soren: ...Idiocy...
Petrine: Well, that's that. We gained some time by flooding the river, but it won't hold them for long. I knew that foreign cur was useless... It looks like the decisive battle will be fought near the capital.

Chapter 23

Petrine makes a last stand on the bridge that connects Daein and Crimea. She has modified the bridge with traps which makes it hard for you to advance. A lot of people complain that the bridge chapter is annoying due to the pitfalls but that's the point, Daein is supposed to be annoying to fight. It's also good for psychological warfare as it can cause panic in the army as many soldiers get trapped. This psychological manipulation is made even more potent when Petrine orders her army to kill off the enemy one by one, thereby making the enemy troops panic as they are picked off one at a time.

Petrine: So they're finally here, are they? Has the work on the bridge been finished? And your answer had better be yes!
Daein Soldier: Y-yes, General! Do you think it will work?
Petrine: Sometimes the simplest of traps offer up the best results. Lure the enemy in, and then finish them off one by one. Got it?

Petrine sends Haar to flank the enemy from behind once Ike's army has been lured in thereby effectively sandwiching his army on a booby trapped bridge.

Petrine All right, Haar! Time for you to go to work.

Haar ends up defecting when Jill talks to him but Petrine anticipates this and has a bunch of her henchmen fight alongside Haar to keep tabs on him which goes to show she anticipated Haar defecting. This goes to show she has great predictive capabilities and plans far in advance.

Haar: The ones responsible for General Shiharam's death, are the Daeins. I pretended to return to the fold so I could get close to General Petrine...I'm just waiting for my chance. But I think they may be on to me. My unit's a bunch of tough guys who serve as Petrine's watchdogs. Plus, I've been ordered to charge the Crimeans head-on. It's Daein's way of killing two birds with one stone.
Jill: Don't do it! Come fight by our sides! If you're looking to kill Daeins, then we share the same goal!
Haar: Jill... I, um... I don't trust Crimea anymore than I do Daein. I'm sick to death of serving countries.
Jill: Captain...
Haar: Still... I can't abandon the daughter of the man to whom I owe so much... Guess I'm changing sides again.

Now Petrine does lose the fight but one of the reasons she loses is that at last minute, Lucia decides to ambush Petrine's army at the edge of the bridge in Crimea when Ike's army also gets near the edge, this pincer proves to be too much. There is no shame in losing to the combined efforts of Lucia and Ike when Lucia herself is a great tactician and we all know Ike is a brilliant general who has a brilliant strategist at his side.

A unit is near the end of the bridge
Lucia: Is that the Crimean army? ......................................... Two turns later
Lucia: Are you ready to fight?! Are you ready to die?! We must give our all to protect Princess Elincia!
Crimean Soldier: My fellow Crimeans! Now is the time we stand and fight for the life of our homeland!

Conclusion

While Petrine may have failed to prevent Ike from reaching Crimea, she does show to be a formidable general regardless and her failure is made even less bad when you consider most of Daein's soldiers were in Crimea. Three of the four riders of Daein are fought on Crimean soil as well as Ashnard himself. Daein's best soldiers were in Crimea and they were more numerous too.

Overcoming many hardhsips, Ike and company finally arrive in theDaein capital of Nevassa. However, much to their dismay, King Ashnard is nowhere to be found. According to intellegence reports, the king is in Crimea's capital of Melior, preparing to wage war against Gallia. In addition, at least half of the Daein army, including its most elite forces, remain unharmed and at his side.

Petrine might be arrogant and reckless, but she does take the threat seriously and plans accordingly.

submitted by lcelerate to fireemblem [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 01:27 LittleThunder98 Anyone else got a diamond without knowing until you claimed it?

So this past weekend I was playing on Revontuli coast. I was trying to do a couple of the Beta missions. One was archery kills and another was quick kills. I thought I’d just kill two birds with one stone and try to kill geese with a bow. I set up for Canadian geese and began calling but no geese came in, instead a small group of tuffed ducks landed to my left very close. I thought I could get at least 2 before they flew away but after I shot the first one they took off. I quickly switched to the shotgun and shot one overhead. I went to pick it it and surprisingly it was a diamond (my first diamond bird). I was just curious if anyone else had just seen an animal and shot it having no clue it was a diamond.

submitted by LittleThunder98 to theHunter [link] [comments]

2023.06.09 01:06 avid-book-reader I was playing Microsoft's crossword game today and you guys might like 1 down 😉

submitted by avid-book-reader to Presidents [link] [comments]

2023.06.08 19:08 ConstProgrammer Bright Colors, Strange Entities, and Baffling Vanishings

This article is not my original creation. It was from "Mysterious Universe" website. Unfortunately the site has since been taken down. I was able to find the wayback machine (internet archive backup) for this article. However it is not a reliable permanent solution, hence I decided to post the duplicate here as well.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210507065339/https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/08/bright-colors-strange-entities-and-baffling-vanishings/
Content of the original article:

Bright Colors, Strange Entities, and Baffling Vanishings

Brent Swancer

August 7, 2019

There are numerous cases throughout history of people just seeming to step off the face of the earth to vanish into thin air. We are usually left with only scattered clues, grasping at theories as to what has happened to these unfortunate souls, but in some cases it appears that there is a correlation of sorts. Throughout a great number of these accounts of people who have seemingly blinked out of existence there is the simple but nagging clue that they were wearing brightly colored clothing. It seems to be at first a meaningless quirk, but the number of reports of the mysteriously vanished and bright articles of clothing has increasingly become something that can’t be easily ignored, although the answers as to why might be forever elusive.
A very strange case popped up on Whitley Streiber’s site, Unknown Country, concerning a witness calling himself Alan Lamers and his very unusual, otherworldy story. Lamers claims that he was working on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, which is where it first came to his attention that a great many people were said to have gone into the jungles of the area to vanish without a trace. He was first told about this as he visited a small speck of a village in the district of Sandu Batu, in South Sulawesi, where he was warned to only wear clothing that was white or black in color, with no bright colors whatsoever. In particular he was warned not to wear anything that was yellow, and that black was the best one to go with. Odd indeed, but it would get odder still.
When Lamers pressed as to why he should not wear bright colors or anything with yellow on it, the villagers told him that people who did so had a bad habit of disappearing off the face of the earth. Weirder still, sometimes the people would reappear dazed and confused, not remembering anything of their strange incident and missing the articles of clothing with the offending colors. As to why, the villagers had no explanation. After hearing of this, Lamers and his companions warily wore all black when they trekked out into the jungle to investigate some alleged illegal logging in the area, but one of the men apparently broke the rules, and he explains:

One of my friends, who is a Bugis-Makassar, didn’t listen or understand the warning and wore yellow socks. We did our tour and returned. He was strangely quiet. That night he became extremely ill. I had never seen a person projectile vomit that hard. He had an extreme fever also. We nursed him and about a day later he returned to his healthy self. Then he told us what happened. He said something had bitten him on his right legs calf and then his thigh. He showed us the marks. They were huge scratches. He said he could not see what was attacking him. He said he did not want to tell us what happened because he was embarrassed. The villagers stood around us with these knowing looks while we looked at the marks. they said he was very lucky. Usually people disappear. I was stunned.

What was going on here, and what in the world does the color yellow have to do with it? It is unclear, but Lamers claims that he would get at least some theories during his stay. He tells the account of a woman friend of his whose brother had gone hiking in the mountains along with four others, after which they all vanished. After an intensive search finally the brother was found, alive but in a dazed state and looking undernourished and skeletal. When asked about what had happened to them the brother said he could not remember, but whatever it was had obviously and visibly traumatized him. No trace of the others was ever found. Lamers asked his friend what she thought had happened to them, and he says of her response and his reactions to it:

She said it was the Jin. Jin is Arabic for demon. She said many many people have disappeared in the mountains because of the Jin. I asked my engineer friend who I worked with about this early today. He said it happens often and reminded me of Wala Wala the village we had gone to. Entire cultures have developed around this problem. They wear only black because they believe this allows them to travel through the jungle undetectable by whatever it is that takes these people. There is something taking these people Whitley. Something terrible and evil in Sulawesi. The people of Sulawesi have come to terms with it and have tried to adapt themselves to deal with whatever it is. It has gone on long enough to bend culture. I will continue to investigate what this is.

Is that what this was? A Jin? This makes sense considering that the population of the region is around 85% Muslim, but could there be any other explanation? He apparently did follow up on all of this, managing to get more information out of the locals, as well as from the lone survivor from that doomed trek as his memory came trickling back to him about that fateful hike. However, his story seems to make no real sense, and is so bizarre it leaves more questions than answers. Lamers tells Strieber of this additional information:

I found out he kept seeing what the Bugis call Jin Kurcaci. It means little demon people. These things do what is called “penculikan” or abduction. No one knows why they do this. But sometimes the people come back after a bit. The people or creatures who do this have a small nose and their eyes are small and black, but their mouths are very broad and when they smile it is very large compared to the rest of their face. He could not remember the color of their skin. I asked for a picture to be drawn. He managed a crude happy face with a nose consisting of a single line and a huge grimace.
The boy was the only one who could see them out of the five. He kept seeing a lot of them but when he would try to show the others one of the four who disappeared could see them. He also saw a strange animal he could not recognize. These animals are the size of a horse with huge antlers. He said he saw herds of them. He could not understand where they came from or why there were so many. They not an animal indigenous to the area. There is no such known animal that big in Sulawesi. Apparently this is a widespread problem.

Is this Jin, some sort of evil forest people, or just folklore? What is the significance of the colors and why must people wear black? Does this somehow draw these forces in, and maybe they are attracted by these colors? It is very interesting to note that some of the most bizarre vanishings on record are theorized to have had some link to bright colors, according to missing persons investigator David Paulides, author of The Missing 411 series of books.
Paulides has researched strange vanishings all over the world and has compiled a sort of list of criteria that seem to be common to many of the cases. Examples include people disappearing practically right under the noses of nearby friends or family, bodies turning up without shoes or proper outdoor clothing, children who have gone missing only for their bodies to turn up in inaccessible areas where they could not possibly have climbed to on their own, belongings or clothing left behind often neatly folded or arranged, bodies that have turned up in areas that have already been thoroughly searched or are out of reach, and people who have disappeared without leaving a single scrap of evidence behind. There are also the fact that many of these disappearances seem to happen near bodies of water or where berries happen to be growing, that with bodies which are found the cause of death is often unclear or difficult to determine, that there is a lack of tracks, and that search dogs often cannot pick up the scent or are led to places such as sheer walls where no one could reasonably scale. Often people who were with the missing explain that they just happened to get separated somehow without being able to pinpoint when or how. Then there is the curious detail that many of the vanished just so happened to have been wearing bright colors.
This has been seen in many vanishings covered by Paulides, with perhaps the most well-known being the disappearance of 6-year old Dennis Martin. On June 14, 1969, Dennis was on a camping and hiking trip to the Great Smoky Mountains when he and his family stopped off at a grassy mountain highland meadow and popular stop-off point along the Appalachian Trail know as Spence Field. As the adults sat out on the grass chatting, Dennis, his brother, and two other boys on the trip thought it would be amusing to play a prank on their parents. They decided that they would split up, go out into the woods, and then simultaneously jump out from different directions to startle the adults in what was meant to be just harmless fun.
Three of the boys went one way and Dennis, who was the youngest, went the other. The reason he had been chosen to be on his own was that he was wearing a highly visible bright red shirt. This is something to remember in relation to this article, the bright colors. Just as planned, the three older boys jumped out and scared the adults, but then the men asked where Dennis was. Since the other boys had seen him just a few minutes earlier, they assumed that he had merely missed his cue and so they waited for him to jump out of the trees as well, but he never appeared.
Dennis’ father, Bill Martin, went out to get his son, expecting that he would be there hiding in the bushes as he had been instructed, but an immediate search of the area showed no signs of the boy, and calls into the woods went unanswered. Increasingly worried, Bill and Dennis’ grandfather, Clyde Martin, hiked out in different directions farther and farther from the place where the boy had last been seen and still they found nothing. Park Rangers were notified and a search was launched that would last until nightfall, when heavy rain began to come down along with thunder, which hampered efforts to find the boy and the search was called off until the following day with still no trace of where Dennis had gone off to.
In a rather ominous twist, a mere hours after Dennis had gone missing a family named the Keys reported that they had been hiking around 6 miles from Spence Field when they had heard a boy’s scream. The son also claimed to have seen movement in a bush which he at first had thought to be a bear, but turned out to be a man walking in the woods with something apparently slung over his shoulder. As spooky as this may seem, authorities determined that the location was too far away from Spence Field to have possibly have anything to do with Dennis within the time frame of events.
In the following days the search efforts would quickly grow in size to hundreds of people scouring the area, including park rangers, locals, volunteers, the FBI, National Guard, and even Green Berets and psychics, along with bloodhounds and helicopters, and meanwhile the news of the disappearance had started making major national headlines. Since Dennis was described as a robust, healthy boy with plenty of hiking experience it was thought that he was alive and would be found in short order, but continuing heavy rains flooding roads, as well as thick fogs, made efforts difficult. For their part, Dennis’s parents posted a hefty reward for any information leading to finding their son. Dennis Martin has never been found, and not a trace of what happened to him has ever been uncovered. Interestingly, this all fits several of Paulides’ criteria, including the brightly colored clothing.
Similarly there is the case of 4-year-old Alfred Beilhartz, who in the summer of 1938 was on a fishing and camping trip with his family at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. As the boy and his parents were taking a hike along a river, little Alfred, who was wearing a brightly colored shirt, suddenly simply disappeared without explanation. One moment he had been there walking in a line behind them, and the next the parents had turned around to find he was gone without a trace. There had been no shout or sign of distress, and all calls to him went unanswered. He had seemingly just ceased to exist.
Although the parents claimed that the boy had gone nowhere near the water, authorities were nevertheless convinced that he had fallen into the river, and immediately went about blocking off the river so that it could be thoroughly searched and so that his body would not float too far away. A 6-mile stretch of the river where Alfred had vanished was searched and dredged for 5 full days without turning up any sign of the boy, and when bloodhounds were brought in they oddly tracked his scent to around 500 feet uphill from where his parents had been when he had disappeared, which was odd considering he had supposedly gone missing as he was walking behind them. Also strange was that allegedly the bloodhounds followed the trail for some time before reaching a fork and suddenly stopping and simply lying down, an odd behavior for trained scent dogs to display, and also strange because it seemed that the trail had just abruptly stopped to vanish just as surely as the boy had.
Even more bizarre than this was an odd report that came in from some hikers in the area in the early stages of the search, the very day after Alfred had vanished. The hikers, who were a couple, had been on Old Fall River Road about 6 miles away over rugged terrain and around 3,000 feet higher from where Alfred had disappeared, and at the time had had no idea that there was a missing boy in the area, yet they reported seeing a rather worrying sight. They claimed that they had seen a young boy perched up upon a high ridge in an area ominously called “The Devil’s Nest,” near the top of Mt. Chaplin. The hikers reported that the boy had been forlornly sitting alone up there and had then suddenly moved out of sight, which the hikers mysteriously allegedly said looked as if he were being “jerked back.” At the time they could not figure out how such a young boy would be out there in the remote wilderness by himself or how he could have possibly climbed up onto that formidably high ridge. According to the hikers, as soon as they had gotten home and seen the news, they had realized that the boy they had seen was the missing Alfred Beilhartz.
Authorities acted on the tip and made the journey out to the Devil’s Nest, a perilous hike through thick, unforgiving forested terrain littered with rough brush and dense trees, and there at the top of the looming ridge they could find no trace of the boy. Considering the difficulty of the terrain, the elevation, and the steep, treacherous climb up to the ridge on which the hikers had claimed to have seen the boy, park rangers came to the conclusion that it would have been impossible for the boy to have made the hike out there in the timeframe involved on his own, and that he could not have possibly climbed the ridge alone without specialized climbing equipment and experience. There are several weird details about this case. How did Alfred manage to just vanish right under his parents’ noses without making a sound? What happened to his scent trail and why did the bloodhounds following him act so oddly? How could Alfred hike all the way up Mt. Chaplin, trudging 6 miles and 3,000 feet through unforgiving perilous terrain in such a short time, and then climb up onto that high ridge by himself? What did the hikers mean that he was “jerked back”? We may never know, and Alfred Beilhartz has never been found. Oddly enough, it is reported that young little Beilhartz had been wearing brightly colored clothing at the time of his vanishing.
Such cases are numerous, and we also have the case of 3-year-old Jaryd Atadero, who in October of 1999 was staying with his father at a Christian retreat lodge at Poudre Canyon, Colorado. On October 2, Jaryd was out with 12 of the Christian group members on a hike along the Big South Trail when he somehow got ahead of the group and talked to some fishermen along the Cache la Poudre River, asking them if they’d seen any bears, to which they replied that the boy should get back with the others. Those fishermen would be the last ones to see Jaryd Atedero alive. In the wake of his disappearances a massive search using bloodhounds and aircraft was unable to find any trace of the boy, and it was largely assumed that he had fallen into the frigid waters of the river and drowned.
It would not be until 4 years later that he would finally be found, when on June 4, 2003 his remains were discovered up in a remote, inaccessible area up a steep incline about 500 feet above the trail he had vanished on. This is where the case gets weird. On the dead boy’s cranium were found a series of odd scratches that were assumed to be from a mountain lion, yet big cat experts pointed out that a cougar would have torn at the sweater and body near the neck and stomach, damage that was absent. Indeed, there were no other apparent injuries on the body. Paulides also claims that he spoke to forensics experts on the case who told him that, although the source of the scratches could not be determined, they were not from any known animal. Other odd details about the body were that the boy’s clothes had been turned inside out, and a single tooth from his mouth had been found placed upon a nearby log, strangely not overgrown with moss or vegetation considering that it had presumably been sitting there for 4 years. The clothes and shoes themselves were also surprisingly brightly colored and new looking for supposedly having been out in the elements for so long. And there is a key word here, they were brightly colored.
Adding to this strangeness surrounding the case of Jaryd Atadero are allegations made by the boy’s father, Allyn Atadero, that authorities were very secretive and dishonest about the whole incident, and seemed to be almost intentionally botching the investigation. One example is when the Atadero family was allegedly threatened with arrest if they tried to go off snooping around on the Big South Trail, and although it was claimed by authorities that the trail was the only way in or out of the canyon, this turned out to be a falsehood, as Allyn found records of various other entry and exit points. Another oddity was that Allyn claimed that he had discovered that the police were using his own shorts as a scent sample for the dogs rather than those of his son, and that when confronted about this glaring error in procedure they got confrontational and irritated, allegedly going so far as to threaten to call the search off. Allyn would also claim that although some strange hair samples had been collected from his son’s sweater, no test results were ever released and he was merely told that they were neither human nor mountain lion, but that he “shouldn’t worry about it.” To top it all off, Paulides also claims that authorities were highly uncooperative with his own investigation into the case, and that the FBI had refused to get involved. What in the world happened to Jaryd Atadero? Was this an animal attack, a kidnapping, or something more? It seems we may never know.
Mysterious cases like this go on and on, with that common thread going through them that they were all wearing brightly colored clothing at the time of their bizarre vanishings. Is this, as David Paulides and Lamers say, a determining factor in such vanishings? If so, then why should this be? Are the colors somehow attractive or maddening to whatever forces are taking these people? And now that we are on it what forces would those be? Is this extraterrestrials, evil spirits of some kind, Bigfoot, some sort of other mysterious animal, or what? One very interesting theory that has made the rounds is that perhaps some sort of large, unidentified winged beast is behind it all, perhaps its attention drawn by the bright colors. One commenter on our very own Mysterious Universe has said of this and how it relates to such vanishings:

I’m pretty sure I know what it is & I’m sure it’s also responsible for some of the National Forest missing adults. If these disappearances have anything to do with what I saw in 2006 in Colorado (less than one mile outside of Pike National Forest), then it’s likely that the same thing is responsible for the cattle mutilations as well:
It’s a bird & it was massive; I startled it off my roof by stepping outside onto my front porch in the middle of the night. I had no idea there was anything there but when the door slammed behind me I heard a “scrabbling” sound; as if there were a small rockslide directly above me.I covered my head with my arms & tried to duck under the eaves when I heard a rippling sound. Almost exactly like the sound one of those huge flags make when a sudden strong gust of wind unfurls it.
Then, there was a boom. A percussive boom that my eardrums felt, to the point where I started to lose my balance & fall backwards. That’s when a huge shadow passed overhead. From 1.5 stories above me, clearing 50ft tall tree in the front yard. The shape of the shadow most resembled a vulture & I can’t conceive of the wingspan being less than 20ft.As it glided up it … screamed. A pulsating croak? Not sure quite how to describe it. It was not a sound I have ever heard before. Oddly; it didn’t seem to have flapped its wings again.I refused to think about it for about a year because it was so ridiculously improbable. When an inspection of the roof occurred, the comment was “It looks like Freddy Krueger attacked your roof!” Along with the gashes, there were a few puncture holes as well. So I started researching & haven’t stopped.

It is of course possible that the presence of bright colors could just be a coincidence. Perhaps it does not matter, and has simply been assigned value by Paulides and others, but then how would that explain the clear link supposedly conveyed to Lamers by the people of that remote area of Indonesia and their aversion to entering the jungle wearing anything other than white or preferably black? Is there any connection to be had here, and if so what is it? It is certainly interesting to note the similarities between Lamers’ stories on the bright colors and people reappearing with no memory of what had happened and the very similar Paulides cases in which the same thing happens. Are there mysterious forces drawn to these colors that somehow make these people disappear? There is no way to know, and it seems to lie beyond our comprehension, but until we do understand maybe don’t wear brightly colored clothing next time you are on that hike through the woods.

submitted by ConstProgrammer to HighStrangeness [link] [comments]

2023.06.08 17:36 Individual_Mess3929 Metal Gear Remake Concepts Part 1

hese are concepts ideas I had for an Metal Gear (1987) remake which I would dub as Metal Gear Solid 6: Outer Haven. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990) would be called Metal Gear Solid 7: Zanzibarland. Both games would be long and give a lot of depth on Solid Snake's past and his relationship with Big Boss, Campbell and Gray Fox. Another game I would push for is Metal Gear Solid: The Philanthropy Chronicles.It would allow players to play as Solid Snake and his supporting cast after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2. Snake’s mission to continue taking out metal gears and track down the Patriots along with Revolver Ocelot. It would lead up to the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I will be working on Metal Gear Solid 7: Zanzibarland concepts soon.
The concept for a Metal Gear Solid 6: Outer Haven (MGS6: OH):
I know its long as Metal Gear (1987) would have to be a game that is remade from the bottom up. A remake of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake would be easier since it was a rock solid game. One wouldn't have to change much from it just expand on the story, elements and characterization it has already. I would love to get feed back from fans here.
Story:
The storytelling aspect is inspired by how MGS (1998) told its story. The game would start with Otacon, a ghost writer that wrote the novel of Snake’s exploits and those that work with Snake during Operation Intrude N313 telling the events of Metal Gear Solid 6: Outer Heaven to journalist they trust. We learn that Snake is paradon for his crimes and is buried as a war hero next to the grave of Big Boss. Given a Medal of Honor award and other awards from other countries for saving the world several times. The world is now knowing about his story and thus even more interested to learn of Snakes exploits during his youth. David Hayter voice being used as a recorded message from a dying Solid Snake giving accounts on what happened in Metal Gear Solid 6 and 7 along with most of his life. Snake hopes that his message and story will inspire others to be better and fight for what is right.
David Hayter wouldn’t voice a young Solid Snake as I feel a voice actor that is younger but can emulate David Hayter mannerism and his voice should do it. A young Solid Snake having a hint of innocence, nativity, vulnerability and self doubt at times.
David Hayter would voice Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 7: Zanzibarland since Snake is supposed to be older and wiser. David would be able to give us this voice range and kick it out of the park including the duel against the real Big Boss.
Plot:
The year is 1995, the Soviet Union has collapsed and the Cold War is now over. The threat of nuclear war is gone and the world embraces this newfound peace. However, this peace is short-lived as there are those that don’t want it. The world is engulfed with the threat of terrorism and rogue states that want to get their hands on nuclear weapons. The free world is now being threatened once again. The US Government works to combat this threat with its covert U.S. Army unit known as Fox-Hound under the leadership of the legendary war hero known as Big Boss. However, when a government agent goes missing during a mission…The agent last reports a weapon that can shake the foundations of the world known as “Metal Gear”. Big Boss sends in a rookie but talented Fox-Hound agent known as Solid Snake to learn of this new weapon. Will Snake learn the truth about this new weapon or will the world find out what Metal Gear will do if it's unleashed?
Mission:
Like MGS3 there would be a Virtuous Mission in MGS6:OH.

Solid Snake is sent in by Big Boss to sneak into Mother Boss from MGS5 via Los Angeles Class (Block 3).
Mother Base is set to be demolished by Outer Heaven forces as they move their forces and operations to mainland Galzburg, South Africa.
Snake’s mission to find and rescue Gray Fox and any of the kidnapped scientists that work for Dr. Madnar. Find out what Metal Gear is and take them to the extraction point aka an Helicopter Pad not in use by Outer Haven units. Afterward, deploy the fulton recovery device for extraction
Snake learns Gray Fox is being held in South Africa at the Outer Haven main base along with Dr. Madnar and his top scientist team. His low level assistants were to be executed by Outer Heaven soldiers via demolishing Mother Base. Last, that Metal Gear is also in South Africa and that Outer Haven is planning to use a custom made ICBM nuclear tipped missile potentially on any country that threatens them.
The mission goes bad when Snake is about to have the scientist air lifted off the ground via fulton recovery devices. The scientists are brutally gunned down by Outer Haven Elite soldiers.
An enraged Snake takes down the Outer Haven soldiers that approach him using his hybrid but deadly CQC system and tries to air lift himself via fulton recovery device. However, he is ambushed by a masked Venom Snake aka The Masked Phantasm.
Snake puts up one hell of a fight, hitting Venom several times to where the point where Venom can only praise Snake’s skills. However, he loses when Venom plays mind games with him including stating his full code name and kicks up off the rig.
Mother Base is destroyed by Venom and his men. Snake is adrift at sea until he is saved by the Los Angeles Class Submarine (Block 3) that helped him infiltrate Mother Base. He is later taken back to the states for a debriefing on what happened while he recovers in a hospital.
In this mission, Snake only has Big Boss communicating with him and does not get much support. He is given only a trap gun, his CQC knife and basic first aid kits.
The suit he wears is similar to his sneaking suit from MGS. Only this suit is design to swim on to the Mother Base elevator platform and sneak around on the surface at night

Main Mission:
This is where Snake goes to South Africa and has to get to Outer Haven which is a vastly HUGE heavily defended base. Potentially the best soldiers and mercenaries in the world work and defend the base. It is an official mission sponsored by Fox-Hound, NATO, CIA, NSA, UN and top members of the US Government. This means Solid Snake gets a load of equipment, gadgets and weapons for the mission.

The briefing section for the main mission would give Escape from New York vibes. Big Boss, Lt. Colonel Roy Campell and other government officials brief Snake on his mission. It is here Snake sees his weapons, equipment and gadgets he will have for Operation:.
Snake mission is the following: 1. Rescue Gray Fox, Kyle Schidener and Dr. Madnar. 2. Investigate War Crimes committed by Outer Haven. 3. Aid Resistance Fighters in any way possible. 4. Rescue any other hostages on the base. 5. Destroy Metal Gear and Neutralize the threat Outer Haven poses to the world. 6. Terminate the Masked Phantasm (Venom Snake)
He is air dropped in South Africa by an C-130 gunship (Reference to Metal Gear NES/MGS3) and is ordered to meet with an Resistance fighter before moving into an areas destroyed by Outer Heaven forces via horse back
This intro game would be similar to Rambo 3 and gives a hint on what Solid Snake will be going up against as travel though the beginning of the game seeing Outer Heaven air force units from a distance bomb villages
The main mission would be a large map to roam around. The location being Galzburg, South Africa where the main base of Outer Haven is located at.
When Gray Fox is rescued, he will provide support and be Snake’s mentor.
Level boss battles will be intense and hard
Last, Entering Outer Haven HQ will be intense and the final battle as well.

Gameplay would be a mix between MSG 3 and MSG 4 and MSG 5. It takes influence from other games like Red Dead Redemption, Splinter Cell and Grand Theft Auto video games along with new mechanics. The concept is to give the game a war survival horror like vibe if you’re spotted by the enemy or having trouble surviving in the wilderness.
MSG3 gameplay elements

Like MGS3, you could change your camouflage and blend into the environment, camouflage meter, survive off the wilderness and eat foods.
Finding food in the wilderness would boost Snake’s stamina and also assist with him getting his LIFE up when he rests. However, they would not boost his LIFE up like military rations or other foods (Three-Five star food) found in the supply depots or mess halls at Outer Haven bases would.
The first aid system from MGS3 would play a part in the game. Solid Snake would be able to heal his wounds or stop bleeding like Big Boss did in MGS3 many decades ago. So having first aid items will be vital.
The game would have different rations from different countries that Snake can eat from if he takes it off an Outer Haven soldier or from their supply depots. Military rations help heal Snake LIFE and give a small or moderate boost depending on the quality of the ration. (ex. American Military rations would give a moderate boost to Snake LIFE but would give a small boost to his stamina as he isn’t in favor of the rations taste. Russian rations would only give Snake a Small boost in LIFE and small boost in stamina due to its taste. Call back to MGS3. French Rations would boost Snake’s LIFE and Stamina completely which would be a call back to MSG4.)
Different foods found on Outer Haven bases can boost Snake’s stamina up and LIFE better than Rations such as the Calorie Mate, Curry, different sodas, snacks, etc. Also, three or five star meals found in Outer Haven mess halls scatter through-out their many sub bases or garrisons. P.S. I want to have a scene where Solid Snake finds a Calorie Mate and speaks to Big Boss about it and the two have an interesting conversation about it. (Lol)
Snake can sabotage enemy supply deports and armories to reduce the enemies ability in fighting him if spotted.

MGS4 Gameplay elements-

Over the shoulder gameplay
First person view and aiming down the sights
A fluid polished gun gameplay mechanic
Customizable weapon system, weapon attachment, swapping out and fixing inventory slot for weapons and/or inventory
Psyche meter, this goes down when Snake is spotted too much and takes too much damage
Currency system to upgrade weapons and get ammo when Snake runs into Resistance fighters weapon vendors
Solid Snake having the option to assist resistance fighters or continue with his mission
Aiding resistance fighters will help Snake during take segments of the game. They will return favors to Snake by giving him rations, weapons, other foods and ammo
Saving hostages at Outer Haven facilities will also assist Snake and give him items or information
Polished CQC system
Being able to pick up ammo and weapons of dead enemy soldiers. No ID tags for the weapon.

MGS 5-

Polished CQC and fighting system
Being able to operate vehicles, tanks, apcs and infantry fighting vehicles. However, enemy forces will start to respond more aggressive call in armored units or gunships to Snake out
Ride horses
Weather and day changes at random times, Snake can use this for his advantage
Enemy checkpoints and small bases that Outer Haven use as buffer against intruders and Outer Haven resistance fighters
Call in support from local Outer Heaven Resistance fighters (only if you assisted them in them battles, gained their respect and they’re nearby to help)
Gunship helicopter patrols
Air assault units
Armored convoy patrol
Snake can sabotage mini Outer Haven bases, outpost and can knock enemy communications which makes it harder for enemies to call for back up
Sabotaging Outer Heaven outposts and their infrastructure will cause Outer Heaven to move their forces out to confront the Resistance fighters thus giving Solid Snake a chance to get past them
Snake can smoke his Lucky Striker cigarettes to bring up his Psyche or allow time to pass by similar to what Venom Snake did with his E-Cigars in MSG5

Splinter cell element-

The game would allow players/Solid Snake to use stealth mechanics similar to that game to get by or attack Outer Heaven soldiers
This also means hiding in the shadows and sometimes staying out of the light

Grand Theft Auto elements-

Like GTA games, if you do too much damage to the police they get more aggressive.
It would be no different when you fight Outer Haven soldiers as they will start to send in more elite soldiers with better weapons and armor.
They will also be able to be armored units or mechanized units and gunships would be sent to kill Snake.
Worse, Air strikes and heavy artillery strikes as well. Some OH units would deploy bi-pedal armor vehicles and jet packs along with guard dogs.
This would strongly support the stealth element of the game and give it a war horror movie vibe if you get spotted by the enemy. It doesn’t matter how many good weapons you have on you. You will be overwhelmed by Outer Heaven soldiers and will die if you get spotted multiple times.
This would be similar to what you see in GTA if too many law enforcement agents continue to swarm on you

New Gaming mechanics -

Non-linear gameplay- meaning random patrols of Outer Soldiers can occur the closer you get to Outer Haven HQ
Open world map. Goal is to give fans the immersion that the red dead redemption games gave. Basically the Outer Heaven is like a large country in and of itself
Game would reward you for not being spotted and embracing the stealth elements of the game. This means you will encounter less Outer Heaven patrols in the game and they won’t be heavily geared up when doing them
If Snake gets spotted too much in the game, Outer Heaven soldiers will be more hype vigilante, heavily armed and geared up. They will change their patrol tactics to make it difficult for Snake to sneak around. Worse double up on patrols or have support from armored units, gunships or unmanned drones.
Stealth take down system. Snake can perform lethal or non-lethal takedowns rambo style when his enemies get close. The players can make the decision on which take down to use.
Snake can switch his fighting system from CQC to the various martial arts he knows. If multiple soldiers are near him he can use CQC or use standard martial arts when fighting enemies that can counter his CQC based attacks.
He can use a CQC take down on enemies not paying attention to him or other forms of melee takedowns.
This is to showcase how skilled Snake is when it comes to fighting
Different locations have points that are controlled by the Outer Haven Resistance fighters and Outer Heaven soldiers
The game will reward players for assisting Outer Heaven resistances and sabotaging Outer Heaven bases
Liberate occupied villages under Outer Heaven soldiers occupation or avoid them, go though abandoned villages or resistance fighter controlled villages
The closer you get to Outer Haven, the more patrols and mini bases run by Outer Heaven soldiers you will encounter. This means the game will get very difficult real quick.
Outer Heaven patrols will be random at time depending on how many times you have raised the alarms or not during your mission
Caution mode would contribute to this but there will be more patrols if you cause yourself to enter caution phase too much
The travel to Outer Haven’s main HQ is to parallel MSG3 when Big Boss had to travel to Gronznyj Grad. It short, Snake travels to Outer Haven would be an epic long high adrenaline rush journey to defeat Venom Snake and destroy TX-55 Metal Gear
South Africa’s map would be vast and large. It is filled with its soft and rough terrain. Snake can use this to his advantage but so can Outer Heaven Soldiers
Players will have the option to either go to Outer Heaven outpost or avoid them by using the rough terrain to get around the outpost
Gray Fox will assist Snake in certain parts of the game and provide support either though radio or combat support to take down a level boss.
At times, Snake and Gray Fox would work together to take down Outer Haven patrols
The final part of the game involves Solid Snake and Gray Fox having to fight hordes of Elite Outer Heaven soldiers as they fight to stop Venom Snake from using TX-55 to fire a completed experimental long range ICBM nuclear missile on the Patriots
Last, Solid Snake vs Venom Snake. Venom proclaims that he is Big Boss to Snake after taking off his mask and the two fight. The rest is history.
The final battle is to parallel the battle between The Boss and Big Boss. Intense gunfight and CQC fight between the two. Snake needs to use an experimental rocket launcher made by Outer Haven to kill Venom Snake
After beating the game, you can play as Gray Fox and see the story though his eyes and how he is informed by the Real Big Boss to assist Snake and help him take down Venom Snake.
Being able to blend into the environment Rambo/Navy SEAL tier One style to either get past enemies or take them down one by one
Snake would have a booby trap system inspire the Rambo movies to help ambush soldiers or distract them while they go to aid wounded soldiers.
Snake can create ghillie suits to hide from enemy soldiers, covertly sneak past them or use it to ambush them
Players would have multiple options on how to enter Outer Heaven outpost and the main HQ

Weapons

The weapons in the game will be from late 60s to mid 90s. Weapons form both Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact, China and NATO countries. This goes from handgun, submachines, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and anti tank weapons. Last, grenades and mines.
Weapons can be customizable for Snake to use if he finds the attachment for the weapons or finds an resistance fighter vendor that is nearby to upgrade his weapons
Enemies use weapons fitted for the environment that they operate it and it's at random the types they use
Some weapons will be custom built weapons that don’t exist in the real world to be the spirit of the previous Metal Gear Solid game.
Some weapons will allow Snake to use his CQC techniques or basic melee attacks with weapons

Snake’s Gadgets/Tools for the main mission where he gets official support

Snake's suit is a combination of late 80s and 90s US Army Special Forces attire but modified.
90s tactical vest. It can be upgraded for Snake to carry more ammo and to take more damage as time goes on
Custom built MP5SD6 with a folding stock, an Beretta 92FS with an tactical flashlight/laser sighting, also can be fitted with an suppressor and MK.22 Trap gun. The weapons are modded so he can use his CQC skills
A small pack that allows Snake to carry items. This can be increased by upgrading it in the game
Motion-sensing radar that allows him to track enemy soldiers, a precursor to Soliton Radar. It acts more like a sonar device then radar
Mountain climbing equipment
Combat Scuba gear (can be refilled by going outer heaven supply deports)
Snake has a advanced long range radio and a wireless headset to communicate with his team
Wire cutters
Different camouflages and face paint to wear
Idroid like device but advanced
Fox Hound adaptation of INT-SCOPE but more advanced and has the ability for Snake to switch to different fields of view including Night Vision and Thermal Infrared. Last, a camera system for Snake to take pictures
INT-SCOPE can be used to help Snake what tier Outer Heaven Soldier that he is dealing with and help him plan acquiring and allow him to listen in
Tactical flashlights
Tools to create ghillie suits
CQC knife
Survival Knife used for melee take downs
Limited Fox-Hound issued MRE rations to restore life and stamina along with restore psyche
A blue bandana that Big Boss gives him

Vehicles

Vehicles found in the game are jeeps, armored tank, tanks, APCs, artillery vehicles and helicopters along with jets from the late 70s to mid 90s
Unmanned vehicles that didn’t exist in the mid 90s

Theme:

The end of the 80s going into a new era aka the 90s.
Desert Storm and the aftermath of the war
The politics behind America being the only SuperpoweHype-power in the 90s
Child Soldiers, Solid Snake being one.
NATO, its organization expanding and the conflicts it was involved in though peacekeeping missions
The fall of the Soviet Union, end of the Cold War, and Post-Cold War politics/events
The rise of new technology, internet, movies, music CGI and upcoming digital age in the 90s
The rise of global terrorism and rogue states
The threat terrorism and rogue states pose and the fear of them getting their hands on nuclear weapons. A true big fear of the 90s going into the 2000s
Coming of age soldiesecret agent/legend (Solid Snake)

Movie Influence:

The Rambo movie series since Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake were heavily influenced by the first three Rambo movies.
80s and 90s James Bond movies. Mostly Goldeneye since it follows post-cold war.
Die Hard movies series, gun battles and intensity between the characters and death defining odds
Hardboiled (1992), the gun battle that Solid Snake and Gray Fox will have against the swarm of Outer Haven elite soldiers would be heavily influenced off the final gun battle from this movie.
Running Man, the Boss level villains being similar in design to the villains from the movie, only less colorful, evil like, aggressive and more tactical in fighting.
Face Off (1997) - action scenes
Escape from New York, since the first game was influenced by the movie. The main mission where Solid Snake goes to South Africa with official support will give off this type of vibes including the mission briefing he is given as he looks at his equipment.
The Rock (1996), action scenes and the relationship that Sean Connery as John Patrick Mason and Nicolas Cage as Stanley Goodspeed, FBI. Its similar to the relationship Gray Fox and Solid Snake will have.

Game Music:

The music for the game would be influenced by the previous MGS games, Rambo movies, Syphon filter and action movies from the 90s. Mixed bag of tones to give different vibes for the game
The music will be atmospheric in nature as you move around Mother Base and later South Africa
One set of music to make you feel like a spy, other half giving you the false sense of safety, other places the music will make you feel like your in a warzone and/or being chased
Real world music from the 80s and 90s that players can listen to when they find a Sony Discman D-145 (1995) laying around or Sony walkmans
Real world music would 80s - 1995, Rock, Pop, Alternative Rock, R&B, Mainstream hits, Rap, Jaxx and etc. Can listen to game music as well on either device when you the player find them.

Characters:

David/Solid Snake:
A child soldier of sorts. He spent his life being fostered by different foster parents (Patriot handlers) until he reached the age of 6. After that, Solid Snake was trained though-out most of his life by his many handlers at an US Army run school.
In the US Army run school (Patriots involvement), he was made to engage in a mix of U.S. infantry, Airborne infantry, U.S. Army Ranger, Green Beret and Delta Force style harsh training. Add in the school making him learn different languages at a young age.
On days he didn’t do military training, Snake was made to endure intense academic schooling. It was here Snake was pushed to understand the general knowledge of Science, Math, Reading, English, Writing, Workshop Skills at a High School to College level. In addition, understand how to operate most vehicles as well.
At age 18, he was later placed in the US Army as a 2LT to a Green Beret Unit. The Patriots and his handlers, changed his age date so that he was capable of joining the unit and being a junior officer. He is second in command of the unit and sent to fight in Desert Storm (1990-1991).
Solid Snake had a short but very successful career in the US Army through the multiple successful missions he completed in that war.
His missions involved him destroying multiple SCUD launchers, sabotaging Iraqi supply lines, disputing their communication lines, assassination or capturing of top Iraqi officers, and deep reconnaissance within Iraq. His unit would also take part in aiding in liberating Kuwait.
He is awarded a Silver Star and promotion to Captain before personally being recruited into Fox-Hound by Big Boss himself.
Big Boss and Roy Campell were coordinating Fox-Hound operations in Desert Storm which is why they knew of Snake’s exploits and saw him as a candidate for the unit.
Prime Solid Snake is a force to reckon with and is considered to be the best all around Fox-Hound agent along with being the finest practitioner of CQC next to Big Boss and The Boss.
Big Boss states to Gray Fox at the end of the game that Snake could defeat The Boss with ease had they had fought in a straight hand to hand duel in the 1960s. In short, this is Big Boss way of humbling Gray Fox and telling him to NOT underestimate Snake for when the time comes for Fox to kill him (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake events).
Snake’s CQC is unique and deadly in design due to his expert knowledge of various different martial arts from his youth, his mastery of Close Quarter Battle (CQB) and knowledge of CQC handed down to him by Big Boss. Snake incorporates many different forms of Martial Arts to his style of CQC where he adds in striking (punching and kicking), fake or faints, foot work, clinch, ground fighting and grappling.
Despite being inexperienced, Snake makes up for this by being sure of his skills and not being afraid to pull the trigger. Snake’s real fear is that he is going up against experienced killers and soldiers by himself who can kill him
Snake’s relationship with Gray Fox is similar to the relationship to what we saw in MGS2 between Solid Snake and Raiden. Only a young Solid Snake is more badass when compared to a young Raiden
Snake’s relationship to Roy Campell is similar to what we see in MGS. However, the two become friends quickly due to the experiences they share being involved in Desert Storm.
Roy Campell encourages Snake not to give up and to be sure of himself. He also calms down an enraged Snake when they learn that Big Boss is behind everything.
Solid Snake's relationship with Big Boss is similar to The Boss and Naked Snake in MGS3 but a lot longer as Big Boss continues to “support” Solid Snake with his mission.
Fox-Hound, NATO, CIA, FBI and NSA start to put the pieces together that Big Boss is behind everything. He goes off the air and Venom Snake confronts Solid Snake. Rest is history after that.
Big Boss:
He is the commander of Fox-Hound and re-organizes the covert special forces unit to combat terrorism and rogue states trying to get their hands on nuclear weapons.
This was a fear in the 90s and Big Boss being a legendary war hero made him the perfect pick to be the leaders of the organization again
Under his leadership, Fox-Hound is successful in taking out world terrorists, international arms dealers, their backs and having them arrest by allied countries
Big Boss and Roy Campell are awarded medals for their efforts
Big Boss holds the simulated rank of a One Star General in within Fox-Hound due to his vast war experience, successful missions and saving the world several times over
We learn of Big Boss past and how he was an top NCO before MGS3 before being given an rank of officer
Big Boss personally trains Solid Snake and passes his legacy down to him after Snake accepts an open challenge to spare him and hits Big Boss multiple times before losing.
This is a tradition Big Boss would offer recruits during his command. The challenge was that he would train any recruit as his solo student if they could hit him in sparring. Only Snake was the only recruit to do so in Fox-Hound.
Big Boss does care for Solid Snake in a bizarre way and doesn’t want to see him killed unless it's by his hands which he is secretly plotting to do.
In the virtuous and main mission, Big Boss provides support to Solid Snake by giving him advice from his war time experience, how to survive in sneaking around Outer Haven and how to survive off the land.
During Boss battles, Big Boss goes off the air, leaving Campell to assist.
Everyone becomes suspicious of Big Boss when they discover his spy plane has disappeared off radar and it is not far from Outer Haven.
Worse, when intelligence agencies learn that Big Boss was sending message to Outer Heaven HQ (Gray Fox) but they are unaware of who
They create an warrant for his arrest and the rest is history after Venom Snake dies
Roy Campbell :
He isn’t a full bird colonel yet and is an Lt. Colonel. He is second in command of Fox-Hound.
Big Boss trusted Campell because of the events they shared in MSG:PO and the vast amount of experience he has in counter-terrorism missions to black ops in taking out terrorists leaders.
Campbell quickly befriends Solid Snake due to their shared war experiences in Desert Storm.
Campbell is a skilled tactician and strategist, and is heavily supportive of Solid Snake. He gives Snake (Player) hints and clues to move around in the game. In addition, information on weapons and vehicles.
Last, he gives ideas on how to destroy level bosses
Gray Fox:
He was on a mission to assassinate Venom Snake after Big Boss discovered that Venom wants to use Nuclear Weapons against Patriot run countries that would trigger a nuclear war. Of course, official members of Fox-Hound are unaware of this and believe he is investigating Outer Haven to learn if they’re involved with terrorists.
He fails his mission that Big Boss assigned to him and is captured by Venom Snake after losing a fight against him.
Venom spares his life and threatens that if he escape, he will personally take him out next time.
After being feed by Solid Snake, Gray Fox is ordered by Big Boss in secret to assist Snake in taking out Venom and later assassinate Snake to cover up everything at Outer Heaven.
However, Gray Fox is unable to help Snake take out Venom after being cut off by a swarm of Outer Haven soldiers. He instead sacrifices himself so that Snake can stop Venom from launching nukes from Metal Gear TX-55. Later, fakes his death so he could return to the real Big Boss and help with Zainabarland
After beating the game, you can play as Gray Fox and see the story through his eyes. Learn more about him, his fighting style and how he assists Solid Snake
His fighting is mixed between his fighting style as Null (MGS:PO), CQC concepts Big Boss passed to him, Knife fighting style and pro gun fighting skills.

Venom Snake/Big Boss:

Venom Snake would have a huge makeover since the events of Metal Gear Solid 5. He has been given nanomachines so that he can survive future medical surgery and look more like Big Boss and stand in for him.
The horn in his head is removed which almost kills him but the nanomachines prevent this and heal him. They also grant him superhuman abilities that turn him into a super-soldier of sorts. His bionic hand is replaced with a more human-like bionic hand.
The nanomachines are a precursor to what Vamp would have many years later. Only Venom’s nanos won’t bring him back from the dead, just heal him faster. However, the side effects is that the nanos in him are making him mentally unhinged
He is given a new sneaking suit to help harness his new abilities and provide extra protection for him. Snake would need to use an Anti-Tank rifle or Anti-Tank rocket launcher to take him out.
He is not the same man he was in MSG5. He is more militant towards the Patriots, ruthless and cold blooded. A pure demon at this point and isn’t afraid to commit war crimes or allow his men to do so.
Venom’s prime mission is to destroy the Patriots and nations they run via nuclear strike using TX-55 Metal Gear. However, he knows that Outer Haven will be hit by NATO countries.
This causes a rift between Venom and Big Boss. Venom sees Big Boss as being weak and is not willing to do enough to destroy the Patriots and is not willing to do whatever it takes to do so.
However, the rift is created by Master Miller who kept his promise to help make the sons of Big Boss and Venom Snake stronger then Big Boss
The rift gets so bad that Big Boss suspects Venom is not being loyal to him anymore and sends in Gray Fox to find out what Venom is doing leading to Metal Gear (1987) events and to assassinate him. Fox fails and loses to Venom in a fight. Venom shows mercy and has Fox locked at a maximum security brig at the Outer Haven prison site.
A Venom Snake respects Solid Snake as he sees how skilled he is but he also plays mind games with him by hinting his relationship to Big Boss.
He now wears a mask when he goes out in battlefields to fight aside his men so as to keep Big Boss identity hidden. He is dubbed the Masked Phantasm by world intelligence agencies. As far as the world is concerned, nobody knows who the Masked Phantasm is. Some people think he is a student of Big Boss due to CQC abilities. Near the end, he takes the mask off to reveal to Solid Snake who he is Big Boss (fake one).
Last, we will know of the tragic story of Venom Snake and how really wanted to be a doctor after his contract with Militaires Sans Frontières end.
Sadly, no one will ever know about Venom Snake and the man he was before his tragic events.
He will apologize via radio to Big Boss asking his forgiveness and informs him that Solid Snake is not a man but a demon of their own making. Last, he correctly predicts that Snake will defeat the Patriots and do what they failed to do right before the Outer Haven based self destructs.

Supporting Characters
Kyle Schneider

Developer of Outer Haven and help with building the base. Later, becomes the leader of the Outer Haven resistance force in South Africa after learning of Outer Haven’s war crimes in the region.
He is captured and the resistance fighters try to scramble to rescue him. They agree to help Fox-Hound and Solid Snake in exchange for the safe return of their leader
Knows where most of the weapons, foods and other important items are on the base will inform Snake on where to find them.
Also inform Snake of where vital security checkpoints are and more are located at.
Is caught in the explosion when NATO destroys what is left of Outer Haven. He is saved by the Real Big Boss.
He will tragically become the Black Ninja and this leads to the event of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake where he will seek revenge against the world for what has happened to him.

Jennifer Schneider

She is the sister of Kyle Scheider. She took it upon herself to go and rescue her brother despite not being a soldier or warrior.
She disguises herself as a nurse and sneaks into the base. She assist Snakes with information and where weapons are at.
The original game doesn't say what happened to her. So I have her help Solid Snake escape and they watch Outer Haven from a distance get destroyed with NATO delivering air strikes on reminding Outer Haven bases
She is present when Solid Snake is giving a medal for completing the mission by President Bill Clinton
The two have a brief relationship before he moves to Canada to be an undercover CIA agent
Snake helps her find a job in America for her helping him and getting her a green card to stay in America

Diane

A Goth Punk rocker that has a band called Thin Wall. She performed for Outer Haven several times and knows about the base
She assists Snake with giving information on Outer Haven bases and the main HQ. Also, info on the mercenaries that operate the bases and informs him of the weakness of the Bosses in the game.
She has a crush on Solid Snake and is in her early 20s.
She is present for Solid Snake getting a medal for completing the mission

Drago Pettrovich Madnar

The developer of the first Metal Gear. His project, himself, his scientist and his daughter are taken hostage by Outer Heaven soldiers
He is being used to complete TX-55 Metal Gear and develop an custom built nuclear tipped ICBM that can be fired from Metal Gear
Informs Solid Snake on how to take out Metal Gear He is taken off base by Jennifer after Snakes saves him
He informs the US Government to send Snake his regards fos saving him

Ellen Madnar

The daughter of Dr. Madnar. She is being used as a tool to force Dr. Madnar on continuing his work on TX-55 Metal Gear
She is saved by Snake and escorted off the base by Jennifer
She is present for Snake getting a medal for completing the mission and stands in for her father

Tech (Original)

Expert in science, engineering and responsible for making all of the gadgets Fox-Hound has
He is also aware of the weapon systems, gadgets and tools that Outer Heaven Soldiers use
Son of Donald Anderson
Gameplay mechanic, he is charge of saving the game for you when you contact him
Would return in Metal Gear Solid 7: Zanzibar Land and Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy Chronicles to aid Snake. In Philanthropy Chronicles he aids Snake to atone for the sins of his father. He would go into hiring with Snake’s afterwards which is why there is no mention of him in MGS4
He would leave Fox-Hound after the Zanzibarland incident and work for the CIA as a gadget builder

submitted by Individual_Mess3929 to metalgearsolid [link] [comments]

2023.06.08 12:14 Goodbichon POTD: My very first crossword!

Hi -- here is link to it on crosshare: https://crosshare.org/crosswords/uG8pDoJzgCAdahHDZust/my-first-crossword
I am very much a beginner (still on the Times quick ones), but from the start felt drawn to making clues up, so gave a whole puzzle a go.* My arsenal of tricks is quite limited so maybe it is very easy. And possible I've made a faux pas here or there. Would really really love your feedback and advice on how I could improve certain clues, and also overall feel of the puzzle. Maybe feels a bit samey? Or perhaps I've just been staring at it too long! I think maybe in future would like to try more &lit. clues to spice things up a bit -- but I do find those very hard to solve, let alone set...
*(Note: I actually borrowed a completed grid from a non-cryptic which i found on Google images, and just made up cryptic clues for it — so... maybe not counting as a fully self-set crossword... but excited to make my own now I know about crosshare).

submitted by Goodbichon to crosswords [link] [comments]

2023.06.08 11:05 vnhz Good morning.

submitted by vnhz to ironscape [link] [comments]

2023.06.08 08:57 optical_illusionss Outlying community NYT Crossword Clue

Outlying community NYT Crossword Clue
https://crossword.fresherslive.com/nyt-mini-crossword-answers-for-june-08-2023

submitted by optical_illusionss to NYTCrossword [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 23:50 imanunbrokenfangirl I’m in MT. This bird had like a screeching squawking call. Any clue what it is?

submitted by imanunbrokenfangirl to whatsthisbird [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 21:15 Maxton1811 Perfectly Wrong 3

First... Previous ... Next ...

Terrified as I was of the alien soldiers currently approaching my craft, still I couldn’t bring myself to stop staring at them. Aliens. Real… Aliens… Finally getting a good look at the approaching group, my eyes and brain raced in conjunction to catalogue their features. As a child, it'd always been my dream to explore the stars and make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. However, as I grew to learn more and more about the physics of space travel, I'd ultimately realized that my dream was essentially impossible. We weren't anywhere close to the level of technology necessary to properly explore even our own galactic zip code, let alone faraway systems. In the end I resolved that if I couldn't experience that myself, I wanted to make sure that eventually someone could, even if that someone wouldn't be born for another 1000 years. Looking back on it from the window of my exploration vessel, maybe I'd been just a tad pessimistic about that number...
Unfortunately, the old sci-fi trope of alien animal groups resembling those on Earth didn’t seem to hold true here. These people, whoever they were, definitely wouldn’t fit well with any of our categories. Small, icy-blue scales shaped like flat pebbles adorned their necks. Their arms, by contrast, were decorated by what appeared to be white feathers—vestigial wings, perhaps. While the specimens on either side of the scientist were concealed largely by body armor and helmets, the one between them provided a much more detailed view of their anatomy. Slight lumps of fat on the chest area suggested mammary glands of some description—yet another middle finger to my understanding of evolutionary biology, but at least a helpful middle finger, given that it pointed me toward this alien’s sex. Atop her head, a crest of similarly-pristine feathers stretched down like human hair, concealing one of her (presumably two) ears which resembled in passing those of a fantasy elf, but curvier and with two prongs at the top instead of one.
Just a few paces shy of my vessel’s door, the trio halted in place. It looked like the scientist was trying to persuade the two soldiers of something. Both of them seemed rather hesitant to follow her orders, but after a brief exchange of what I could best describe as organized birdsong, the pair reluctantly stepped aside and allowed the researcher to continue her approach unaccompanied.
Switching my gaze over to one of the ship’s cameras for a better view on this approaching stranger, a sudden wave of panicked realization washed over me. I am first contact… Shit… How do you even greet an alien? Smiling was definitely a no-go. Even back on Earth, most animals would see that as a threat. With my luck, they’d probably mistake it for me having some sort of predatory nature and just gun me down then and there. That being said, waving may not be the best play either. I didn’t know if these guys had sharp talons, but startling them seemed like a pretty bad first test of that. Still, what gestures in the animal kingdom are universally non-threatening? Sifting through my slowly-defrosting memory, I recalled at one point learning about the habits of gorillas and how to survive meeting one in the wild (I found weird things on the web growing up). In social animals, lowering one's self is usually a gesture of submission. So, with little time to ponder anything else, I turned toward the door of my ship and offered a cordial kneel as the door was pried open by some sort of mechanical lever (probably hydraulic for the sheer strength) to allow inside a real, in-the-flesh alien.
For whatever it was worth, she didn't seem displeased by my gesture of surrender. More... Confused than anything, in fact. "Torakeetreet?" The nonsense noise hung around me like some form of inquiry, but naturally I hadn't the foggiest fucking clue what it meant, so instead I elected to remain silent. Approaching me with visible trepidation, the alien repeated its 'question' to me, but again I couldn't risk responding in a way that would displease her. With my eyes cast downward, I saw that she wasn't wearing shoes, but instead left on display her four-toed talons that looked like they could easily slash an artery if swung right.
"Dadarakan... Tereet." The sudden sensation of a warm, fingerlike appendage pressing my chin upward by its foreclaw sent my danger-detecting instincts into overdrive. Disregarding entirely the claws' bluntness and gentle movement, I recoiled away from its owner with a short burst of backward movement. Naturally, being part of the graceful primate lineage and a member their most intelligent species by far, I was easily able to evade this danger by elegantly falling flat on my ass and in a stroke of brilliance slamming my spine against the steel wall behind me. This scientist seemed every bit as frazzled as I was with the encounter, having herself collided with the shuttle door in the midst of our mutual confusion. A light hiccuping noise emanated from the alien’s throat as she too toppled over onto the ground.
Somewhat assured by this interaction that my life was not, in fact, about to end, I slowly eased myself upright and with gentle, telegraphed steps approached the mysterious alien woman. Noting my sudden advance upon her prone form, the stranger observed me first with eyes full of fear, followed shortly thereafter by curiosity when I knelt down once more to offer her a hand up. To my surprise, no further coaxing was required to convince this mysterious creature. Carefully wrapping her claws around my outstretched hand, the alien allowed me to help her to her ‘feet’. From outside the ship, I hadn’t actually noticed how tall she was beyond ‘vaguely human-sized’. Now, inside the ship and stood before her, it became rather apparent to me that this bird/lizard lady, despite being at least thirty centimeters (a foot) shorter than the guards outside, still had a few centimeters on me. Evolving in lower gravity’ll do that to you I guess…
“Hello,” I breathed anxiously, shaking her talon up and down with my friendliest close-lipped smile before slowly relinquishing it back to the alien, whose look of absolute fascination identified her as a scientist at heart. Pointing to myself for emphasis, I continued. “I am a Human… Hu-man…”
Swishing her head feathers in a gesture perhaps similar in meaning to cocking one’s head, the researcher parted her lips and in a sweet, singsong voice spoke. “Hu-man.“
“Yes!” I pumped my fist triumphantly, nodding my head up and down in frantic affirmation of her attempt to pronounce a human word. This alien researcher seemed at least open to communicating with me, so that was definitely a good sign. This being said, I was beginning to understand why universal translators were such integral sci-fi tech. Actually being able to understand each other would take awhile unless I found some way to expedite the process.
Replicating the gesture she’d just seen me perform seconds prior, the alien scientist pointed a claw to her own chest and with it held there spoke a single foreign word which I presumed to be her name. “Vavi..."

submitted by Maxton1811 to HFY [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 20:01 Goodbichon Recommended app/platform for sharing already created crossword online?

Hi, I have a crossword I've set (my very first!). I did it by finding an already completed non-cryptic grid I found on google images and then I made new clues for the answers (so perhaps not counted as a fully set crossword in that I borrowed a completed grid!). I would love to share it with you all to get your feedback but I'm not having much luck finding a way of getting it online to then share such that it could have that neat check/reveal functionality I'm seeing in others' POTD posts. Do you know of a platform that could help me out? (I've tried various but either failing to find one which will let me create my own grid, or with ones that seem to allow this (e.g. amuselabs) I'm failing to understand the interface. If not, OK to just share a picture of the grid and clues (and then maybe the answers too but hidden?). Thanks so much for your help.

submitted by Goodbichon to crosswords [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 17:58 dlschindler My Crow And The Heist Of The Aeons

Books sat all around the Choir, who were mental hospital patients magically shaped as ravens. I was the first to take human form, as my raven's eye spotted what I hoped was ours. It was one book among many, but it was also Circe's diary. As a man I could thumb the pages.
We had come in through the open window of the room of the manor that held so many books. I'd noticed the old diary right away and begun to read it while the ravens shifted from void travelers to humans.
I frowned, realizing it was just a record of all of her lovers. An impressive body count of seventy-seven, I noted her notation on the last page. Then a chill ran through my blood. The sorcerer in me knew something about them.
"Cory, what sort of magic can be divided into parts, among lovers?" I asked.
"I have no idea, my Lord." Cory looked at the book. "A diary?"
"Yes. Circe's diary, but I suspect it is more than that. She had a second use for these creeps. I bet we could find something." I decided. The fortunate find was only a promise. I had no idea if there was useful magic or not. Whatever magic she had hidden would be worth hiding, obviously.
The others shambled past me and Cory in their open straight jackets and bathrobes and hospital gowns. They had all sorts of weapons: clubs, a broken bottle, a claw pincher and an uzi. I had my staff, carved from the unstable and formless magic between worlds into a proper weapon.
We needed our weapons, dried zombies stood in our way, shuffling among the books. Magical slaves, living corpses. They were still dangerous and had to be destroyed.
For a moment the dead stood in our path, their eyes shimmering blankly in the shadows. They regarded us, the intruders, then began to shuffle towards us. I felt a chill of revulsion at the sight of corpses walking and gagged on their stench. I'd seen far worse, but one never truly gets used to such things.
A loud rapid clapping noise and the merry tinkle of bullet casings erupted from the uzi. It was pretty ineffective. The rest of the Choir brandished their weapons and strode forward like the maniacs they were. Even Scarlet was in the mood to kill something and she tore apart more than one of the shambling dead.
She looked at me and I caught a gleam in her eye of psychotic delight. Some nervous feeling always rose up in me since the first time I had met her. Somehow the shift from a helpless hitchhiker to a hook handed murderer always caught me off guard.
When we'd finished killing the dead we sorted our way out from the books.
Time seemed distorted. How things played out always felt surreal as we partially entered entirely different worlds than our own. There was always a dreamlike perspective, as though I were merely an actor under observation rather than a participant. I often had to remind myself of the grim reality I was trapped in.
I had lost count of the rare artifacts we had stolen for Aureus and the worlds we had invaded and brought death and horror to. I loathed all of it, feared there was no salvation after my numerous misdeeds. What choice did I have?
I led the Choir through the manor, watching myself do so.
There were other servants, just as ghoulish as the dried zombies. We killed everything we met until we got to the master bedroom. The safe was too big to take with us.
"Cater?" I asked our safecracker. She was also totally nuts. Her wild eyes rolled around and beheld the safe as though pretending she hadn't noticed it. Her fake response of joy wasn't really fake, she was actually happy.
"Gots." She whispered and went to work on the safe. The Choir stood around breathing too loudly for her and drooling. Eventually she got it open and took out the green gem. It sparkled evilly. Circe's Emerald.
"Let's go." I said and we all returned to the books and found the ġedwimor was shimmering visibly where we could revert to ravens that could fly home. We leapt through it and into flight. Our rave cast the shadow of one great bird. The magics welcomed us, living and enchanted creatures that we were, and insane. Across worlds and time we flew back to our home.
At Dellfriar we arrived. Except I had finally found my way out. Aureus somehow knew before I did that I held the key to my escape. It was in Circe's Diary that the clue existed. There was more to her spell than turning the enlightened into ravens.
I dreamed of the unkindness of ravens watching me. Cory asked me in the dream:
"How many pigs are on her island?"
I began to count them and I took a step with each number. By the seventy-seventh step I was asleep again, within the dream. I looked at my sleeping form in the dreamscape, surrounded by pigs and watched by ravens. I was looking down from a great distance, it suddenly seemed, and then I was looking up from far below.
"Where are we?" I asked Cory. I stared at my crow and he seemed to be smiling. It was the dream that made it seem so.
"Seventy-seven steps to the bottom, my Lord." Cory advised me. "And each must be counted."
"Those were pigs." I pointed out.
"Pigs that were once men. Each of them descended further, marking a fraction of the way. Love is a journey, a dreamy journey, ever downwards." Cory chirped.
"What about the exact number?" I wondered. To a crow, numbers were more symbolic than literal.
"It's just a number of stairs leading into the dream lands. It means nothing." Cory sounded playful. Cory had learned that numbers were literal to humans. It amused him that I was confused.
"But the number of Circe's lovers?" I asked.
"Of course, they are permanently under her control. They made a bargain, surrendering their bodies. Each of them counts as the descent to the bottom. Their blood and hers is mixed. The blood of her lover's, her blood, they are helpless to her will." Cory explained. I was glad I had read so many books with my crow that we both knew the answers when we met in Dream.
"Where is she?" I sat up from the blue clouds and looked around. As I focused I found I was on an island. What I imagined Circe's prison to look like.
Someone spoke to me:
"You use my spell on yourself. A wereraven, part of a rave of lunatics just like yourself. You have stolen my emerald?" I heard the soft voice of a delicate female. I turned around and saw her there. She was staring at me, her eyes looked curious and a little hurt.
"I stole it for Aureus. They're making a weapon, and your emerald is a suitable component." I explained.
"Aureus?" Circe seemed somehow both amused and irritated at-once. "Neither a man nor a woman. Neither a human nor a creature of magic. Not a young soul nor an old one."
"The same." I sighed in sympathetic exasperation.
"You work for me now. You will steal my emerald from this weapon. You will seal Aureus in a moment stolen from the wheel upon which the ages turn. A moment among the aeons that never was and never will be." Circe smiled strangely for me. I sensed that to her victims she seemed irresistible. I found her charms to be crocodilian.
"You are right." I agreed with her. "We have searched for a long time for a way to defeat Aureus."
"Was the answer..." Circe started to ask a question and then paused for emphasis: "Right in front of you all along?"
"We thought that dying might be the answer. If we were dead we couldn't serve Aureus." Cory sounded cheerful and perky, like he was telling a very funny joke.
"Life." Circe swore. "Life is the answer. You are life from me. You wield my powers with ease, Greatson." Circe's smile looked maternal. It occurred to me that I was immune to her charms because I was her descendant only after I heard her say those words.
"You're my Lord's ancestor?" Cory cleverly surmised. "No wonder he is so valuable to Aureus. I thought it was strange that such a powerful sorcerer required help from my Lord!" Cory cawed with hilarity. The revelation held layers of humor for my crow, who felt like explaining further: "You know, because it is so funny. My Lord would be the last choice of most competent magic users. We've routinely made mistakes that could only be made during the hour that is reserved for amateurs!"
Circe tried to hide her amusement. "I'm sure my Greatson is learning. Even I managed to make a few embarrassing mistakes in my youth."
"Really?" I asked.
"No." Circe smiled. "I'm just trying to make you feel better."
"We shall know the plan?" I interrupted. Circe was standing before me, the short distance between us meant nothing in Dream. She looked serious as she drew upon my eyelids. I could watch her do so with my eyes closed.
Then I awoke in the dream I had descended from. I was again among the pigs and the ravens. From there I shook myself awake in the real world. For a moment I was tempted to shake myself again. Fear that I might wake up in a higher place from which I wouldn't be able find sleep made me hesitate.
"Do you recall the dream we have had, my Lord?" Cory asked.
"About Circe being my great grandma? With a few more 'greats'?" I answered rhetorically.
"Yes. She put a spell on you. Can you see anything that you couldn't?" Cory asked.
I blinked and looked around. For just an instant, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Aureus somewhere else in Dellfriar and busy with the artifact's assembly. Several components were still missing - though.
The theft of Circe's Emerald and the escape from Dellfriar had many outcomes. There is only one that I survived. Only one version that can be reassembled from the chaos of so many worlds collapsing inward, so many realities becoming undone. Circe was right, it was only life - the deepest magic I knew of.
Inspiration came with my new perception. I could see the path ahead of me. I could see that there was only one version in which I survived and escaped. If I had done anything differently, the butterflies of death would have touched me.
I saw the window of opportunity and I knew every step I had to take. I took my bag and my staff, collecting the implements of my magical heists into the bag. I clicked my tongue and my crow alighted upon my shoulder.
With a cunning plan in mind, I ventured into the heart of Aureus's lair alone. The dimly lit chamber was filled with intricate machinery and arcane devices. I could sense the pulsating energy of Circe's Emerald, beckoning to me from its secure pedestal.
Taking utmost care to avoid detection, I stealthily maneuvered through the labyrinthine corridors, relying on my years at Dellfriar as a master thief. The shadows embraced me, concealing my presence from any wandering guards or surveillance systems that may have kept sentinel.
As I reached the chamber, I surveyed the room for any potential traps or alarms. It seemed Aureus had grown complacent, perhaps underestimating the audacity of a lone infiltrator. With a wry smile, I knew this was my moment to strike.
Silently, I approached the pedestal housing the emerald. It radiated a mesmerizing glow, casting ethereal patterns on the walls. Carefully, I retrieved a set of specialized tools from my bag: a combination of lockpicks and arcane implements.
I began to work my way through the security measures protecting Circe's Emerald. Each lock and enchantment posed a challenge, but my skilled hands moved with precision and finesse. The emerald's aura seemed to dance in anticipation, as if recognizing the touch of someone who understood its power.
Minutes stretched into eternity as I delicately dismantled the final obstacle. With a soft click, the emerald was finally free from its confinements. Holding it delicately in my gloved hand, I could feel the vibrant energy coursing through my fingertips.
But my mission was not yet complete. I had to make my escape undetected, evading any Choir or enchantments that may lie in my path. The emerald, now securely concealed within a specially crafted case, remained a beacon of power.
Slinking through the shadows, I retraced my steps, navigating the treacherous corridors with the precision of a phantom. Every movement was calculated, every sound muffled, ensuring that my presence went unnoticed.
As I emerged from the depths of Aureus's lair, a surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins. I had accomplished what seemed impossible: an audacious heist of Circe's Emerald from under the nose of a powerful adversary.
With the emerald secured, I vanished into the night, leaving no trace of my daring feat behind. The power of Circe's Emerald now resided in my possession, a relic of immense potential. Its fate, and the choice of how to wield its formidable magic, rested solely in my hands.
Little did Aureus or The Choir suspect that their plans had been quietly usurped. The heist had been a success, an act of cunning and skill that would alter the course of their intricate dance. In the shadows, I contemplated my next move, knowing that the emerald would grant me the power to shape destiny itself.
As I reached the top of the castle, a gust of wind tousled my hair, carrying with it the whispered echoes of Aureus's approach. I could sense their presence, their energy tinged with frustration and anger. It was clear they had discovered the theft of Circe's Emerald and were now in hot pursuit.
Just as I was about to invoke the ancient spell, the very same one that had allowed Circe's spellbound to transform into ravens and traverse the realms, Aureus materialized before me. Their form exuded an aura of authority and power, yet beneath the surface, I could sense their desperation.
"You dare to steal from me?" Aureus's voice reverberated with a mix of fury and disbelief. "That emerald holds powers beyond your comprehension. Return it to me now, and perhaps I shall spare your wretched existence."
I stood on the edge of the castle, the vast expanse stretching out before me. Time and space awaited, ready to be conquered by the wings of the raven. With unwavering resolve, I met Aureus's gaze and spoke with conviction.
"The emerald has chosen a new path, away from your grasp," I declared, my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. "Its power will not be wielded by your hands, for it belongs to a greater purpose."
Aureus's expression twisted into a mixture of rage and desperation. Their outstretched hand reached for me, a last-ditch effort to prevent my escape. But I was quicker, fueled by the magic I now possessed.
With a swift motion, I uttered the incantation, and my form transformed into that of a raven. Wings extended, I took flight, the wind carrying me away from the clutches of Aureus. The space between worlds beckoned, an ethereal gateway to new realms and infinite possibilities.
As I soared through the threshold, I glanced back, witnessing Aureus's desperate grasp falling short. Their fingers brushed against the empty air, and with a cry of frustration, they plummeted into the void, disappearing into the abyss between worlds.
In that fleeting moment, I felt a mixture of triumph and sadness. Aureus, once a formidable adversary, now lost in the vast unknown. But my purpose lay beyond their reach, and I knew that I carried the weight of Circe's legacy upon my wings.
Across worlds and time, I journeyed, guided by the whispers of ancient knowledge and the power of the emerald. As I soared through realms, I vowed to protect its magic, to wield it for the greater good, and to ensure that Aureus would never threaten the balance again.
The adventure had only just begun, and I embraced the uncertainty that lay ahead. With the wind beneath my wings, I charted a course through the tapestry of existence, carrying Circe's legacy forward, and leaving Aureus to face the consequences of their insatiable hunger for power in the ever-shifting space between worlds.
"We have but one flight, there will be no way back to Dellfriar when we land." Cory interrupted my musings. "Where are we going?"
I smiled at the question, for it was obvious. Cory was always there, upon my shoulder. For me there was somewhere I wanted to be:
"We are going home."

submitted by dlschindler to Nonsleep [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 15:45 MarciandEthel Murder Mystery Birthday Party!

https://preview.redd.it/0h8q2ngknl4b1.png?width=2018&format=png&auto=webp&s=5b7ed49b94ab69303dd81cbf3719cca1cb54f04d
It was a dark and stormy night, there was a loud pop that came from this big mansion in the middle of nowhere and some screams could be heard from the distance, but it was rather... happy screams. Apparently, it was a champagne being popped open by a newcomer named Lester.

"Alright, who wants some?" He circles around the giant living room to pour everyone some in their glass.

One is an old man sitting in his wheelchair named Harold, a guard named Cole who simply joins along with everything that's going on, and of course, the two little rascals, Rupert and Elliot. Standing nearby a giant window.

"Ahh, nothing like a good drink for the night!" Rupert commented. "Despite the occasion."

"I like parties, I'll take anything." Elliot added.

"What if it was my birthday?"

"Well, you'll receive a hair clipper."

"Why?"

"For that sweet bushy unibrow of yours."

"Hey, don't you dare insult my unibrow!"

"You can say that to me eye to eye but you can't, 'cause I don't see any eyes."

On the other end of the living room, Harold was lighting up some candles on the cake that is being held by Veronica, just waiting for it to be done.

"And that's the third and last candle, it's all done!" Harold said. "Thank you so much for the assist, young lady."

Veronica gave him a reassuring smile while still holding the cake.

"Quite a dope mansion here." Lester commented.

"Why thank you, my dear boy. But it's not as cool as this button." Harold pulls out a small button

"What does that do?"

"In case you're too tired to close all the lights throughout the whole place, you can use this to close it yourself without going anywhere."

Harold clicked the button for demonstration and the lights from the living room went out and then turns it back on again.

"Wow, that's sick!"

"If any of you needs it, it's with me."

"Uh oh, here comes the birthday boy!" Lester exclaimed.

Billy enters the living room, he knows about the party but he was still happy to celebrate his birthday. Veronica walked towards him and lift the cake closer to him as everyone sang him a happy birthday, except for Rupert and Elliot who were just mocking the entire song.

After Billy blew his candles, we immediately shift to him opening some presents while sitting on a large chair that almost looks like a thrown.

The first present he got was two baseball bats, which came from an old man, apparently.

"How'd you like a good old-fashioned sports game, huh?" Harold asked. "I think you're gonna like it."

Billy gave him a smile of appreciation for what he got.

"Aww, ain't that just an adorable grandfather and grandson bonding?" Lester commented.

"Oh no, he's not my grandson, mine's dead."

Whoops, Lester's smile fade away immediately.

"You know, you could play with those bats however you want, my dear boy. Even when I'm dead." Harold strolled away with the help of Veronica.

"Okayy, creepy grandpa is being creepy now." Lester muttered. "Hey, what else you got?"

Billy continues unwrapping his presents, the first one he got was this envelope with really cute designs. Billy opened it and inside was a little note. Confused by this, he takes a look to see what it says.

"Happy birthday! Seems like you're down with another year of your life, great! You're a special one, you like puzzles. Wanna play one? you seem to be very happy growing old, it's like going up in numbers is a great thing for you. But what if it counts down instead of up? Would you be able to stop it? Only one way to find out, starting with a big loud boom!"

Billy finished reading and Lester got curious about it.

"What does the note say?" Lester read the note himself. "What big loud boom?"

Suddenly, a loud thunderstorm flashed before their eyes and all the lights went out.

"Hey, what happened?!" Rupert exclaimed.

"Everybody open your flashlights!" Lester shouted.

Everyone pulls out their phones to open their lights, except for Rupert and Elliot cause they don't have phones.

"Really? Just us?" Rupert groaned.

"Hey, what happened to the lights?" Lester asked Cole.

"There was a blackout."

"Yyyeah, I knew that, but why did it happen?"

"The storm."

"I hate that you're very straightforward about this, I was literally trying to set up a spooky tension here!"

Billy and Veronica were looking around the room separately to see if there was anything to see around the living room. He looked at Harold who was facing away, he slowly walk towards him and turn his wheelchair around only to see him as a skeleton.

"Hey, was that-... *Gasp* Grandpi Harold's dead!!" Lester screamed.

"What?!" Rupert asked frighteningly.

"He's dead, look at him! He's literally a full-blown skeleton!"

"Oh my mother of mama, he's dead!" Rupert jumped onto Elliot in fear.

"Who would do this?" Lester asked.

Veronica walked back to Billy's chair to grab the note that he left and give it to him again. Billy reads it again and now he realized what's going on.

"Wait, the note! It had something to do with it, right?" Lester pointed out.

"A note? What note?" Rupert asked.

"It was randomly gifted to him, and it said something about a big loud boom and it might be referring to the storm, right?"

"How did the person who made the note know when the thunderstorm is coming?" Elliot asked.

"Huh, you're right. I mean how would he know that it will lead to a blackout?"

Lester looked at Harold's body again and suddenly noticed something, the light switch button that Harold mentioned earlier is not on his hand.

"Wait, his light switch button is gone!"

Billy was confused by this because he never saw that moment.

"The what now?" Rupert asked.

"The button! He showed that to us earlier and he said if we needed it, it was with him. Which means there was no blackout and one of us stole it and turned off all the lights!"

Everyone slowly nodded their head because it kind of makes sense.

"Oh my goodness, do you know what this means?" Lester looked at Billy. "We're doing the classic murder mystery investigation! Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Yeah, not as fun when you're the next target!" Rupert exclaimed, nervous.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, who's next?"

Everyone in the room starts looking at each other.

"Nobody looks at me, I hate that, stop looking at me." Rupert said.

"Alright, let me look at the note again." Lester reads the note again. "...Counts instead of up. That's gotta mean something, right?"

"Yeah, there's six of us now! You count from six to one, we're all done for!" Rupert exclaimed again.

"Yeah, but... my question is why did the mysterious killer go after Harold first?"

"Maybe because it's easy? He's an old decrepit man in a wheelchair!"

"Hmm... counting down... Harold was got first... maybe what the killer means by counting down is they're gonna get us from oldest to youngest?"

"I'm sorry what?"

"Oldest to youngest! Harold was the first one to go because he's the oldest one in the group! So that means after that, the next one to go would beee..." Lester looked at Rupert and Elliot.

"Woah woah hey, I'm not about getting killed off here! I'm not old, Elliot is!"

"Me?? No! You're older!"

"No, you're older! Look at that old man stache you have!"

"My stache is nothing compared to your crusty unibrow! Oh, I'm so gonna trim it!"

"You leave my unibrow out of this!"

"Woah, hey, calm down you two." Lester interfered. "No one's gonna trim each other's facial hair. if anything, that's the killer's job 'cause I'm still locked in that you two are gonna be next."

Billy and Veronica chuckled.

"Oh no, I'm not gonna be next here." Rupert said. "I'll be staying with birthday boy over here so that I could use him as bait if the killer shows up."

"Yeah, me too." Elliot joined along.

Billy rolled his eyes at the two as they both clammed onto his legs and not letting go.

"So what are we gonna do now, big genius?" Rupert asked.

"Well, I guess I should let the birthday boy take the lead cause... I'm sure this is supposed to be his task."

Billy thinks about it for a bit, but a reassuring shoulder pat from Veronica gave him a little encouragement so he takes the mantle now.

"Great! What are we gonna do next?" Lester asked.

Veronica grabbed Billy's two baseball bats as a weapon for the both of them and stand back to back.

"Okay, it seems like we're gonna do the classic splitting up thing, I'll go with Veronica then." Lester walks up to her.

"We're still staying here with him." Rupert said.

"Yeah." Elliot added both are still clambering onto Billy's leg.

"Look at us holding onto his legs, we're not old, we're still babies!"

Veronica pulled her phone out to show Billy that they should call each other in case something happens, Billy agreed before both of them walk away separately.

"Hey Cole, wanna come with us?" Lester asked.

"Sure." He walks along with Veronica and Lester while Billy, Rupert, and Elliot go the opposite way.

Veronica, Lester, and Cole ended up in a storage room, perhaps trying to look for something.

"Okay, I'm assuming our next move is to find a second possible note, right?" Lester asked. "If my theory is correct that maybe one of us is the killer, that person must have some kind of lightning speed if he... OR she..." He looks at Veronica when he said that and got an eye roll from her. "...managed to put all the clues in different places in just a short amount of time. Or maybe this was all set up the entire time? The clues were all here and none of us know it! It's something I would've done, I could be a great killer! Just finding clues and..."

Lester keeps going on and on while Veronica searches on her own, she discovered a random hallway in the storage room that leads somewhere else and she wanted to go herself. She looks back at the two guys she's with, one is still blabbering, and the other was just standing by the wall not doing anything.

She's a little creeped out by the way Cole was looking at her while standing still. She figured she didn't need their permission and decided to check the hallway by herself, Cole is still looking at her suspiciously while Lester keeps talking while looking through some boxes, completely minding his own business.

Meanwhile, Billy and his short stacks crew on his leg went upstairs and there were just as many hallways as downstairs.

"We're still babies... why would you even say that?" Elliot asked, mocking what Rupert just said earlier.

"Look, you're the one who started pointing at me for being older!"

"Me? You started it!"

"No, you started it!"

"You started it, you're the one who pointed out about my mustache!"

"Well, I'm sorry about pointing out a blatant fact that you're aging!"

"You're the one with grey hair, you crooked uniwitch!"

"Don't you dare talk to someone younger than you!"

"That's it!"

Both let go of Billy who has been rolling his eyes at them and start fighting each other, this goes on for a long while until they realized they lost track of Billy and they had no idea where he go.

"Uh oh, where'd he go?" Rupert asked.

"I don't know."

"Um... HEY, BIRTHDAY BOY!!"

"He apparently left us."

"How could he do that? Why would he leave us here? Wait, what if he's the killer??"

"How would you know that?"

"Or maybe there's no killer this whole time, it was all a sham! I mean, we never saw what he looks like, right?"

"Huh, good point."

"Maybe everyone was just saying there is so they could freak us out."

"That makes sense."

"So that means we shouldn't be worrying about a thing, right?"

"Right."

...

Rupert immediately runs.

"I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE QUICK!!"

"HEY, DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!!"

"YEAH, ONLY OLD MEN THINK SLOWLY!!"

When they take a right, they ran into a dark brown robe that blocks their way. When they look up, a brown figure with a white Halloween mask was standing in front of them and raising his knife up in the air.

The two screamed at the top of their lungs and ran back to where they were while the anonymous killer chases after them. They're both going places until they found one room that is unlocked and decided to hide there in the pitch darkness.

"Where are we?" Elliot whispered.

"I don't know."

"I can't see anything."

"Neither do I."

"What are we gonna do now?"

"Well, we can't really do anything right now, it's very dark."

"What if we just attack the killer when he enters ."

"What?"

"C'mon, we don't have any other choice."

They suddenly heard a noise coming through the door, someone was trying to open it.

"Well, it's now or never."

"Fine."

"Okay, on three... one, two..."

The door slowly opens.

"THREE!"

The two charged at... nobody, they instead ran into the wall. Billy was the one who opened the door and the others are already with him, the two got up all confused.

"What? Where is he?" Rupert asked.

"Where's who? The killer? You've seen him?" Lester asked excitedly.

"He was chasing us the whole time! That wouldn't have happened if Mr. Birthday Boy here didn't leave us behind!"

Billy crossed his arms.

"Did you really see the killer?"

"Yes! He has a dark brown robe and a Halloween mask!"

"Maybe you just saw a robe." Cole added.

"No, we did not! We saw it with our own eyes!"

"Well, this could go on for a while but we need to move now." Lester said. "We found a hallway and we need you guys to check it out."

All of them went back to the storage room and go into this said hallway to see if they could find anything. There was one door with a note attached to it, Billy take a look at it and see what it says.

"You found the second note, good for you! The numbers are still ticking down though, wanna play a new game? It's a treasure hunt of some sort, the game will only start if you open this door to see what you can get."

Billy followed and opened the door. It's just a bunch of cleaning materials and a singular window but he immediately spots a very shiny key hanging from the wall, and also another note attached to it.

"This key is the only key that could save you some trouble, it can also be a hint to who I am as well. I'll never tell you where or what the gold is but I can assure you it's already right in front of you. If you find it, one of you will be spared."

"It's already right in front of us?" Lester asked, reading along with Billy. "This went from a murder mystery to a random treasure hunt suddenly. What do we need the gold for and what do they mean by 'right in front of us'?"

Billy looked at the window in front of him and thought maybe this gold the note was referring to could be outside this huge backyard, and there was a random trunk in the middle of the lawn so that really gives it away.

"Woah, that's the hidden gold we need?" Lester asked.

Billy nodded, he took the note with him and heads off the room, with Veronica, Rupert, and Elliot coming along.

"We're still following along!" Rupert said. "As stupid as this is, you're still our bait so we can't lose you!"

They ended up in this small kitchen with a rectangular window that shows the whole backyard, on its right side was the door they could head out.

Veronica stayed inside to see a bird's eye view with her baseball bat still in her hand while Billy, Rupert, and Elliot are the ones to check the trunk. The whole place seems empty and quiet so far.

"Okay, so does anyone still not buy that we saw the killer with our own eyes?" Rupert complained. "He was very tall and wielded a knife, he even raised it up in the air right in front of us!"

Billy is annoyed but chose to ignore him.

Meanwhile, Lester and Cole stayed at a dinner table, just across from the living room.

"So, first time on a murder hunt?" Lester tries to start a conversation.

"Yes." Cole responded.

"Really? Considering you're a cop and everything? I expect you to have at least experienced something like this, right?"

"I'm just a guard, we rarely do anything."

"Okayyy...

...

Well, nice talking to you I suppose. Sooo... Imma head out just to see what the guys are doing, I'll be back in a minute."

Lester walks out, leaving Cole by himself for a while.

Back to the three, Rupert is still rambling about the killer while Billy gets increasingly confused by the lack of a keyhole around the trunk. He's been spinning it around the entire time but he found nothing.

"Why's the trunk still not open? What's taking you so long?"

"There's no keyhole." Elliot answered.

"What keyhole? Do you need a key for that if the trunk doesn't have a keyhole, to begin with?"

Billy decided to give it a try by simply opening the trunk himself. Veronica was still watching through the window in case the killer comes out while Billy was surprised that the trunk just opened without the need for the key, but the only thing inside there was yet another note.

"Trap!"

Billy is confused again, he looked at the note from earlier to see what he got wrong.

"I'm telling you, it's not some random figure we saw!" Rupert continued to ramble. "What kind of figure has the ability to move around and chase us from place to place? If it was, it could've just been standing theeeeerrree..."

Rupert lost his train of thought when he turned around and saw something horrifying. He dragged Elliot to his side so he could see, and then did it again to Billy.

"THERE HE IS!!"

Billy's eyes widened as he saw the killer Rupert has been talking about right behind Veronica. She noticed them staring so she quickly turns around to see the killer right in front of her.

Before anything happened, the lights went out again. Billy rushed to the door but it was locked, but Rupert and Elliot are not gonna let him do that.

"Are you crazy?? You're just gonna let the killer run after us?! No, thank you!"

Billy stopped opening the door but instead, decided to run around the mansion to get to the front door. While he does, he calls Veronica on the phone to see if she can answer but she didn't.

However, when the three arrived at the front, Veronica bursts out of the door with a ringing phone and a broken bat. She really put that bat to good use which led to her escaping. She points at the kitchen for Billy to catch to killer himself while Rupert and Elliot decided to stay.

"Okay, you know what? We're not gonna follow you anymore! Because before we even know it, you'll be the cause of our death! You know we're too young to die!!"

Veronica crossed her arms at them.

"What are you looking at? You got lucky!"

She walks away to the dinner table, leaving the two behind on their own.

Billy makes his way to the kitchen until he suddenly bumps into Lester who has been looking for them.

"Hey, what's going on? Did you see the killer?"

Billy nodded.

"Awesome! Where was he?"

Billy pointed at the kitchen but it was now empty.

"So, did you find this 'gold' the note was talking about?"

Billy shakes his head.

"Then where could that be? You have the key, right? Did it do anything?"

Billy still has no idea what the key is for, Lester grabbed it and sees what it does. He tried to use it to the door that Billy and the two rascals were locked in and it actually fits.

"Woah, Billy! Look, the key fits into the door perfectly!"

Billy was surprised, he could've used that to enter the kitchen much earlier. He looked at the note again and realized that they were referring to Veronica as the gold, which makes sense considering that the note says something about the gold being right in front of him.

"Hey, man. I gotta go, there are so many places to check out. This is a big mansion and there are so many things you could find! But if you need me, just call!"

Lester left but Billy stayed in the kitchen for a while.

As for Rupert and Elliot, they stayed in the living room, if it means keeping themselves safe.

"Alright, we're both just gonna stay here and not go anywhere!" Rupert said.

"Just here? In this big living room?"

"Yes! And it's even better that it's big! Because we could just stand by the window, far away from the shenanigans that are occurring, and when the killer comes in, we'll know immediately because it's far away and we have time to escape!"

"Or we could just leave now?"

"Nope! The rain is already coming and I'm not about slipping on their tiles every five seconds and also it'll ruin my suit. Besides, we have all the gifts to ourselves!"

"Except, it's not ours."

"Doesn't matter! The point is we have a lot of things here in case we're bored, now ain't that gonna be fun?"

Back to Billy, he went out again to see the trunk, maybe he might get something useful out of that, but it was just an empty note that only says 'trap'. However, what he did not notice was a shiny silver mirror taped under the handle of the trunk and now he can see his own reflection. Then a small beam of light shines through the mirror, it's coming from the wall where Veronica was nearly caught by the killer, it's another silver mirror taped onto it. And then more beams of light came in from place to place thanks to all the mirrors hiding in plain sight from the entire lawn.

The light leads Billy to this shed which he assumed he needed to enter for a possible new note to find, he goes in and immediately finds a note on the table so he immediately grabs it.

In the living room, Rupert is still talking about what he and Elliot could do in their free time whilst circling around.

"Don't you see? Nice gifts, nice drinks, nice comfy chairs, we have all these things to relax while everyone deals with the trouble themselves. I'm sure they can handle it, it's not our problem anyway..."

Elliot was just staying in his place nearby the front door listening to everything, completely oblivious about the person's hand slowly going towards him.

"AHH!! NO! NO, DON'T GET ME!! HEEELP!!"

Rupert turns around and saw Elliot screaming and being dragged away by the killer.

"NO! ELLI, I'M COMING! DON'T WORRY, I'LL GET YOU!!"

He didn't get him, he was dragged into the basement and the door was shut. Billy heard the commotion and immediately runs back inside to see what was going on, not knowing it was too late.

"Hey, where have you been all night?!" Rupert shouted. "The killer just got Elliot! I ran up to him but I didn't catch him, now he's in the basement! Probably chewing his own guts by now!"

Billy shows him the next note.

"Oh great, a new one. This is just not gonna end, is it?"

Cut back to the living room, Billy gives Cole the note and lets him read it for everyone to hear.

"Clock is still ticking down, but I'll you all more time to figure out who I am. Everything that happened before did not just happen at random, everything you've seen or touched are all hints. Your next task is to go back into those things you all have seen before and think long and hard about who's behind the mask. If not, then more of you are gonna be dragged in with me just like the others, wish you all good luck."

"So this is it?" Rupert asked. "This is the part where we're all gonna be finished?"

"It seems so, what happened to your little friend?" Cole asked.

"The killer got him! He got him before I do! He's the first one to go, I told you I was younger than him!"

Billy and Veronica rolled their eyes.

"By the way, where were you when that happened?" Rupert asked.

"I left to go get a slice of cake."

"Then what is that red stain on your suit?"

"It was a strawberry cake."

"Are you sure it's not someone's BLOOD??"

"I'm very certain about it, yes."

"Oh yeah? can you prove it, big guy?"

Cole leaned closer to him intimidatingly.

"I could. Let's see where your blood is gonna splatter."

Now Rupert is getting nervous.

"UuUmM... okay, we're done here now, buh-bye!" Rupert quickly hides behind Billy.

"By the way, where did the other guy go?" Cole asked.

The three suddenly realized that Lester was not there with them, they look around and there was no sign of him.

"Oh yeah, where is that guy who talks a lot?"

"I thought he was with all of you?"

"Well, he's not! He was never with us the entire time!"

"He used to be active in all of these, didn't he?"

"Wasn't he the one who started all the oldest to youngest thing? The killer came after us the whole time!"

"He even jokes about being a great killer in this scenario."

"And he led us to the storage room which is where this whole trunk shenanigans happen, but it was all a trap!"

They all suddenly heard footsteps from the dinner table. Billy immediately arms himself with his own bat, Veronica wanted to come along but Billy insisted to stay in the living room to be safe, but not Rupert though.

"Oh no, staying here used to be my idea but it cost me an old man so I'm staying with you again!"

Both Billy and Rupert walk away, leaving Veronica with Cole, once again standing still in his place. She's already feeling uncomfortable but Cole tries his best to make her trust him.

"It's just strawberry."

Yeah, Veronica ain't having it so she decided to follow Billy instead. Cole watches her go trying to search for Lester with the other two. With him alone, he walks away in a different direction.

Veronica checked the dinner table to look for Billy and Rupert but they were actually not there. She searches elsewhere just in case, not knowing that the two just walked in from another door just mere seconds before she left.

Billy and Rupert looked around the room, they circle around a bit and even checked under the table to see if Lester was hiding under there, but he was nowhere to be found. But they did find a random door that leads to somewhere, they both walk towards it very slowly and then opens it quickly and it was just the pantry room.

A big pantry actually, they could walk around like it was just another room to explore into. There were so many tall cabinets that maybe Lester could be hiding in one of them so they figured that they should check them out one by one.

But before they could do that, Lester actually comes back coming from the dinner table and seeing the pantry room randomly opened.

"Hey, where have you guys been?" Lester asked.

"I don't know, we could ask you the same question here!"

"I was upstairs checking some things out!"

"You expect us to believe that? Murderer!!"

"No really! I stayed up there the whole time, I even saw these beaming lights through the window! Did anyone see that?"

Billy nodded.

"Maybe we could take that as a clue of some sort? To guess who the killer is? I swear it's not me! You guys trust me, right?"

Billy and Rupert took a step back just in case.

"C'mon, you trust me! I'm completely innocent!"

The two's eyes suddenly widened at what they were seeing right now.

"W-what?" Lester asked.

Billy pointed behind him, Lester turned around and saw the killer behind him, and then the lights went out again.

"OH C'MON, NOT AGAIN!!" Rupert screamed in the darkness.

When the lights opened again, Lester was nowhere to be found, but another note was found on the floor.

"Another body down, but you still have time to find me and call me out. So go take your time all you want. But just to warn you all, I won't go easy this time."

After reading it, Billy heard a random noise from the front door hallway. He walked towards the stairs and Rupert just climb onto his back in case he gets in trouble.

"Okay, in case you've forgotten, you're still my killer bait so I'll be here on your shoulder."

Billy slowly walks up the stairs, assuming the noise came from up there, not knowing the killer is already sneaking up on him from behind as they go up. The two are completely unaware as they kept going until they're finally upstairs.

"So, about this whole clues thing... what does that sweater guy mean by taking clues from just a beaming light again?"

Billy thought about it. Obviously, Lester was referring to the mirrors from the backyard. But he was sure that there were more clues around the place as mentioned in the previous notes that everything was a hint, so he looked back at the beginning of their investigation to see if he missed something.

He got the first note coming from a very well-designed envelope, then he got the key that leads to the door that locked them out, And then the mirrors around the background that are all very shiny and fancy. So far, Billy's main takeaway was that they're all shiny, maybe he'll get somewhere from this.

"I've never even seen the beaming lights, where exactly is that? Do we need to go to a certain place to see that orrr..."

Rupert turned his head around and gasped when he saw the killer raising his knife up. Rupert's screaming caught Billy's attention and turns around and quickly dodged the killer's knife, but he fell on his back in the process and dropped his baseball bat.

Rupert fell straight to the floor just right in front of the killer, he looks up to see him picking him up using the collar of his tiny suit.

"Oh no no no! Please don't kill me! Please put me down! You're not gonna hurt a poor old man are you?!"

Rupert's pleading gave Billy some time to get back up and tackle the killer and they all tumble down the stairs until they reached the first floor. Both Billy and Rupert hit their head on the front door while the killer was about to get up and then grabbed the knife on the floor.

Billy was still down but he saw his phone that fell out of his pocket right beside him now. Rupert is in a very vulnerable position as he's laying his back on the door upside down and can't move a lot.

"Welp, that's it. We're dead, we're stuck here. It's the end of the line, we're finished."

The killer raised his knife, but before he could kill them, he heard something ringing that caught him off guard. Billy apparently called him through the phone as a distraction and then trips him over with his leg until he was down and dropped his knife.

Billy gets back up while Rupert managed to himself, surprised that Billy got him.

"Woah, you got him?"

The killer gets back up again but Billy isn't afraid because he had already guessed who it is. The killer takes off the mask to reveal that it was non-other than Veronica herself.

Rupert gasped.

"I knew it was you! I had an inkling feeling that it might be you and I was right! I knew girls like you are rotten!!"

Veronica rolled her eyes. She pulled out her phone, congratulating Billy for doing quite a clever move on calling her considering that's what they were doing when one of them is in trouble.

"So what now? You're just gonna stand there and not tell us where the bodies are? I want to know what happened to Elliot!"

She rolled her eyes again, she walked up to the door where Elliot was dragged in and unlocked to reveal Harold, Lester, and Elliot just chilling in there the whole time.

"Oh, it's over already? That was fast." Lester commented.

They all come out of the basement, including Elliot who has a lollipop with him.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay tha-... where'd you get that?" Rupert asked.

"Harold gave me the lollipop, if it means it will shut me up and not ruin the game he'll give it to me, so I take it."

"Uhh sure. So what and how exactly this all happened again?" Rupert asked everyone.

"Oh, I'm actually the only one who knew about the murder mystery." Harold answered. "It's a classic game so I went with it, I even gave you all lots of hints for everything before my tragic death."

"How exactly did you pull off your death?" Lester asked.

"Oh, it was easy. After I gave the birthday boy the baseball bats, Veronica helped me stroll away while you were all busy doing something else."

"Oooh, so you're the one who gave Veronica the light switch?"

"Yes, I did. After that, We went straight to this basement where I would hide and then replace me with a skeleton. This clever young lady waited for the perfect time to shut all the lights when the storm came in before placing my dead body into position where everybody could see."

"Cool!"

"But wait, if she's the killer, who was the one behind her in the kitchen?" Rupert asked.

"Well, it was very simple. The plan was for one of you are supposed to be going outside while Veronica stays inside to see the action. While you're all busy, she locks the door herself and used the coat hanger to disguise itself as the killer. And once you all see, she would just play along and pretend there was a killer behind her and then shuts the light off where no one can suspect anything."

"Aw man, I wish I couldn've witnessed that moment." Lester said.

"It was quite brilliant! This young lady was the one who orchestrated all of this and I was just playing along! Everything about this is genius!"

"Seems like my theory of oldest to youngest is completely useless, considering I get to go before this little guy does."

"Yeah, but I'll give you points for that, my boy. That does seem like a good guess, we have a monitor in our basement where we could see all of you."

"True."

Now that Billy knows it was Veronica who did all this for his birthday, he appreciated all of it. Both he and Veronica shook hands for a job well-done, Billy practically won cause he guessed it was her.

Then Cole randomly popped up with a fork and cake on his plate, everyone saw him standing in the distance.

"Want some strawberry birthday cake?" Cole asked.

Everyone was just looking in silence.

"Is it just me, or did I literally forget that he was here?" Rupert asked.

The end.

submitted by MarciandEthel to BillyAndVeronica [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 15:34 vdb543 Squeaky hinge bird call?

Would love to know what kind of bird this is! Thanks for any clues :)

submitted by vdb543 to whatbirdisthis [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 15:20 Bogey4hoo 'Surving The Win' - Chapter 009B.

'Faze'.
At the, "Dere-Licht," Manor, upon the Steps of the Stairs, a Smoked Pipe was placed. In the very Centre of the Meeting Hall (the Room off to the Side from the Bottom of the Stairwell), there was another one, as well. Okay well, throughout the entire building... More like, a GREAT number!
Avem had them placed all throughout that Rebuilt Old Character House, and within that Glorified Mansion, there were Smoked Pipes, In and On Cupboards, Resting Upon Windowsills (with the Drapes Pulled or Left Open), upon Countertops, Hidden Inside of Bookshelves (if not Resting Upon them), of course on the Mantle, Hidden In and Around Corners.. at Every End, Above and Slightly Adjacent to Entrances, and even some, which were included upon the Tabletops...
All of these Smoking Pipes, some with Ashen Remainders in them, some only Constructed Models of, what we imagine, would have been kept for their Interest Sake, were watched by a Careful Set-Up, of Video Surveillance.
The Surveillance, Signaled Hanging Display Monitors, all throughout the House, and also at Avem's Lab in Tokyo. Some of these Monitors, were Hanging from the Ceiling, at the Walls, Facing Down and Into the Rooms. Others, in the Bedrooms, were Level with Sitting Chairs, where one might want to Sit Down and Look At Them.
They were Set Up, Primarily, To Catch Every Angle and Motion of Light or Shadow Upon or Within the Pipes. This Recording of Smoked Rememberances, took place Every Night and Day, from the Rising to the Setting of the Sun, all Throughout the Years. What were the Ashes for?
…
Granny Smith, he yelled. I'm telling you! She didn't believe him one bit. And you pretend you weren't looking for me!?...
She interrogated him fearsomely. Do you know who I am???
Do you know who I am, "Roared," Perry, back at her, bleakly. He was terrified. Though, he somehow managed to pull off a tone, which mirrored her own, with mock mavery.
Down the hall, there was a beep. Close the door, Swarma commanded, looking out through the interrogation Room's Exit. There was the sound of a, "fwoosh," and a, "click," outside of it. Nobody had been at the Exit, either to push or to pull it's heavy door, closed. There was also no telling, of where that other door might be. She took a swab and daubed Perry with it quickly, before leaving. Wait right here, she cackled, smiling a leerily-wisening old grin, as she left him to total.
What's doing this to you? shrieked Ren. June had actually been, in all fact, sobbing and in dread. Her body, becoming purple, as it was, "cast," with some thick layer of unknown chrysoform, which continued to cover her in variegating patches, no matter how much she scratched or peeled. It seemed to keep leaking out from her pores in beads, which coalesced over her skin, recombined, and matted. Heaving, she threw a chunk at the Vending Machine.
She was sitting in Emergency, having just made it through Triage. These are for you, said the Faithful and Believing, Catholic Lady Friend of Wells, who passed her some Pamphlets from the Lecture.
The Professor had stopped everything, to see to it that this kind Lady, would bring Juniper to ER, post-haste. June had brought Ren along as a Study Buddy, for Note-Taking, with a Bribe.
Initially, June went out to the Mountains, to collect Perry's belongings from the Rented Cabin. Upon arriving back in town, both she and Ren decided to Drive out to the College for a Lecture, and to Sight-See, while asking people around the Area if they had Seen or Heard from Perry. Could he be haunting her somewhere? Was there any hope?
Although... the Professor HAD, abruptly interrupted his Lecture to find one of his CPR-trained staff to escort Juniper to the nearby Hospital E.R., in the event that she might not make it there herself, and was, "Truly," facing a Medical Crisis.
The Vending Machine, went lame, and the lights in ER flickered for a moment. I'm getting creeped, said Ren. That's all!
June's problem stemmed back, from when she ate the Oatmeal, which Perry had left behind at the Cabin, while she was inside it, looking at a Newspaper and Doodling.
Some of Avem's Team, had been in the Trails previously, and Driven a Snowmobile through them, tracing Chemicals through the Snow. A or Spoken Split. It had been at just one of her Lab's Testing Zones.
Avem had caught onto Perry, first, when her Voice Exploded from a Crackling Ice Wyrm/ “i”’Sāqa-Šaqqa, in the Cabin's Fireplace.
Avem had been Writing her Vocals into the Chemical Strains of the Ice-Wyrm Constituency Potion, which she concocted in her Lab, and Spread Rumours about, then Codifying it with Automatic Cyber-Sentience Response-Forms, which took initiatives, based on Environmental Factors, and in turn, fed back Information. This Data, was made readable by her Reverse Tonic, which Tabulated it, by Codices, which had Variables in her own Mental Inter-Framing. Cog-Notes, if you will, to her own Cognition. All of, these, Variables, which entered her Consideration, let her Pry, both on Known, and Unknown, Territories. She frequently Drank her Cyber-Tonic from a Vial in her Lab, while going over Her Work.
Perry Wheeled, and Stumbled around the Room, trying to avoid the Icicle Firecrackers, which were Sounding Off whenever he Slid and/or Stepped upon them. He'd apparently been Mega-Dosed, and was now about to Learn what in the World of a Mega-Dosed, Felt Like when Under and In It.
The Wyrms were Sounding Off, in an Acoustics Array, and Perry, Bounded and Rebounded Turning Listless as the Chrysalids Exited him, and Becoming Reinterred into Motion Again, by their Sounds. He was now, well... Not Feeling Like a Perry. That and he was Done, Done, and, "Roared," out. He could No Longer even Find his Own Vocal to Bless How He Felt. Avem came back in, when the Turnabout was Over. She had Observed Perry by a Camera Hidden in the Room, which was Hooked up to her Monitors for Surveillance, as well. Turning on a Ventilation Fan, from outside, which led the Room's Air into a Separate Chamber, she had Two People, Dressed in Dark Robes, walk in, and move Perry back to his Chair, now Limp. They Swept Up, the Remaining Crystalline Deciduates, and Drains Opened, which Took the Little Bit of Liquidine Debris, Out of the Room. Perry, was now Toned.
Swarma, Placed her Hand on his Forehead, at First to Take his Temperature, and then, Mentally Calibrating his Vocal Remembrance within Herself, Uttered a Word to him, While he sat Slumped over the Chair, Catatonic. The Word.
And Therein, may be a Key... His Subconscious Mind, would most certainly Remember. She Had Uttered It, in His Very Own Vocal Tone. Why? It Rendered him Cognizant and Triggered His Mentality, as though His Own... Though, Truly?... Her Own.
Perry was allowed, with the other Time Wraiths as escort, to slowly move around the Manor and familiarize himself with it. He was being taught by them, how to remain very still for long periods of time. Many of the Time Wraiths, were flown out to the Lab down in Tokyo, to use the computers on their Night-Watch Network. The Lab there, housed her prized Hua Niu ("Black Diamond") Apple, Bonsai, kept under specialized lighting, plus numerous other artefacts. It was set up like somewhat of a Museum, with one dimly lit, humming room for computer observancy, which apart from Monitor glare, left much to the realm of the keen observer.
The 34, often formed a Large Pentagram, with two people at each of the five elemental points, two people between each elemental point encompassing, two people between each elemental point intersecting, two people in the very centre, and two people encircling round about. Underneath them, was stone masonwork in black basalt, and a large star outline, traced with gold inlay.
A chandelier hung above them, and the room had an overview of the gated entrance, where birds were often seen in trees, and light could pour in, but at night, the glass of these windows turned sheet-black to buffet them in, high enough up that none might peep.
By no commotion of ceremony, the participants would stand and hear the NicNeven recite her Canon address. The fruits her Science had yielded, sounded in the Hall, and into their collective memory, which disbanded when they did, after she read from her book.
The book, made from gene paper, was their Canon, and this... only a meeting hall. Despite its congressional form, summons were not of sell out to World Teachings. She ranked as their Science-elected, matriarch, of mental-modernity, by the facet of old typings and tyings, to, "new," teachings.
Ruminations from the fruits of her labwork, thereat would be discussed. For if nobody would have them, they most certainly would. Then, and only then, would the lines be codographed (some of the Night-Watch, were also very good hackers). They were secretly culted-over, but by few, and their practicum bore method, not mere devotion. The team were, "Nec-Will'O’Mancer"-affiliate.
An Addendum/Add-On on The Hadena/Gaudy Hadibi/Gift, Out Of Hades/Hell, by Hoodoo (Through Sinter Croft Sinchery, or, alleged Ho-Doctorate).
~ In Other Words: The Elaborately Sinched False-Label on Tobacco Smoke. ~
…
That It Came From, Túḫ-ḫa-a-iz-zi: "To Produce Smoke."
A Variant Of This Hittite Language Word (In Imperative Plural), Is, "Tuḫḫāndu."
…
Because, 'Tuh': Means to, "Pour"/"Give Birth"/"Lay Eggs"/"Touha (Which, implies, by, "Desire")," And/Or, "Tuha," https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuh
This, As Well As, 'Tuhh': "Thousand"/"Grand"/"Tonn,” by the Proponent of Measure. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuhh
&
... 'Tuha': "Tuba." https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/туъһа
Where, ... 'Tuba' (Malay Language): Is a, "Poison That Is Made Out Of Root." https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuba
Plus, it’s, 'Tuba' (Malay Language), Gives "Duva (Fijian Language),"
For 'Dūbǭ' (Dutch Language): https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/dūbǭ * 'Dūbǭ', Can Mean, "Dove." *
Thus, “Height.” Though, Holy Spirit (Or Prayers) still, “Intemn”/”Imprison,” you as Indebted by Material Snare (Karmic-Causal Renditions), if not off of it.
…
~ After Tuh, Which Too, Is Tuha.. And Tuha, Which With Tuhh, Is Thousand.. ~
... Kamba Language: "Andu,” for, “Mundu."
• Making, "Tuḫḫāndu."
…
The Reason Why, Is Because,
"Andu (Kamba Language)": "Mundu,"
And "Mundu (Kamba Language)": "A Man,"
When,
"Mʊ̀ntʊ̀ (Proto-Bantu Language)": "Kɪ̀ntʊ̀"/"Thing,"
And "Kɪ̀ntʊ̀"/"Thing,"
When Translated To Nyasa, Chichewa Language: "Chinthu."
This Last Addition Indicates The

"Co."

Which Is, The, "Man," "Thing," Or, "World," Of It, So To Speak.
Which Would Be The World, If Not By Dove-Letterate.

Jehu, Jehu, He’ish I Say too. *

Ishi (Hosea). …

Anyhow, the Natives know it by another name. Hope you've enjoyed the Lesson!

What did you have me on? Some sort of Cerelium Slick? El, in Perry, broke out bawling. Something so licentious that I can’t tell I’m licked. HaHa.
His stupor adored him with affection, and he had a hammering affectation from it. It caused him to clout his knowing, though only briefly.
Perry came through, yamming… I’m looking back on days of Candy Cloaker Gobstoppers! You mean you literally had me erased… or, where am I?
You Hide no Burger, in Finding Fries, Perald. Daytime is where I have you.
At that, there had been an unconventional or out-of-the-norm convening, where not-an-one of all the attendants had-in, to agree, "We are Necropolitan"... Though, their greed to know, would grow.
Perry led himself back in, looking for his girlfriend, strangely feeling sold out of his nut.
…
Ironically, it was just at that point that Juniper had made it there. She too was undergoing her thought detexturing, “rinse,” that is, the opposite of any detox, after looking like a Raisin May's, “In.”
This was to be the, “Turnabout (a new Ceremony was declared by Avem’s Host in Relative-Caster Company, and held somewhat like a House Party).”
A $9,000.00 Maitland Smith Dollhouse Bar Cabinet, was off in isolated room of the newly Renovated Manor, with a load of Porcelain Dolls and cameras to watch it.
That room was off limits.
Juniper had had it in her know long afore, in dream. Now to hack Avem… oh, where?
…
"Osa," circuit of my air... How can, "I," enfold you? Swarma asked, with a vestitude, which only, behooved to surmise her, with surreptitious guiltiness of paridyllic refrain.
She, “The NicNeven,” winked meaningfully, holding an extremely rare pipe up, skyward.
The Time Wraiths all sat, in their, “F”arm-Ended Theatre apart from the once-Ballroom.
Quieting down, it was in their circle that a cast occurred, but in truth they were no relative summoners and Avem’s Mafia had elected them afresh.
That is… that as they were all a, somewhat afraid and eerily sketched out, “Fresh Crop,” yet and though, she would in fact, have them richly afforded, in Good Time.
…
Avem’s Mafia had sent the former Nec-Will’O’Mancers over to her Manor for the Renovations.
Avem, then, was Crowned, “Accorded,” and the Newly Selected Time Wraiths, could be Trained.
Avem’s Clue In, in her new Role, while in her old Manor seemed to live in it’s espies.
I mean, they must have had her drugged for the whole house to be enchanted, somehow, but the only question is who set it up, and when?
One of her clues, came from a former Nec-Will’O’Mancer silently shadow-encoaching a novice approved in the group, by his far larger boding of path had, in-the-off. She heard the man in her head as well, ruling that Smith had to explore her ties in the Mafia, through rank, a second time, and thus a later, termed-submission as a right of accession, had been officed.
She, once again (the man went over in his mind) being indoctrinated into Mafia rank, though slowly, because her freedom-release methods, were her own merital device, and she needed a longer time to work at them.
Avem, had canned herself intentionally, to stay at a head, but nobody fully knew, how it was done.
Reptilian Mind Control.
-‐-
How could that be?
Look to the Wind, and we shall ride. ~ "Phantom Riding The Whip," where one is not standing on top of a vehicle, but rather, riding over a different type of, "Whip," as a, "Phantom-Circuit." ~
"Now we admonish," they recited.
"Peace be," stated the NicNeven. She inhaled from the lit pipe.
They all, “doned,” her infuriatingness, with amicability.
Now yes, your highest love, and what’s our gift they forecried, awaiting something.
Not of in an any Dib of forgery… You will undoubtedly see. She canned.
Please don’t mess us or master us mental, Avem, one girl joked, admitting the kind dark lair WAS weird.
That's Missus, Avem relegated ghasting.
…
Now, I have here the document they stole it from, a man entering the room said. He read aloud,
The remains of a, "chicote"/"cigar butt"/"cigarette butt."
The Nec-Will'O'Mancers, then stated in unison, reading off of the pamphlets they'd previously been handed out, though in a less clear-and-determined tone, or well (it seemed), in a way that hummed and wandered.
"... Far l'fo, Ho glow. How we sway. How does a hard tar, Lie her thieu, In a chi, icy high..."?
When they were finished reciting, the man continued speaking.
By, "sukunai," "少ない," the man continued in Japanese… a word, which means, "few or little," with the root word, "少し ("すこし," "sukoshi").""
Avem exhaled. "The synonym for, which is, "chotto," she said. So yes... in other words? "A little." "ちょっと ("chotto")," may I add, it has a root word in the adverb, "chito..." "... "ちと ("chito")," as in, "slightly," "a little," "a bit," or, "somewhat," where, "ち ("chi," means, “small”)," and, "と ("to," is an adverbial particle). "と ("to")," is also a noun, which is short for, "と金 (tokin)," which will now indicate a promoted, "歩兵 ("fuhyō," or, "pawn”)," that, "moves," like a, "金将 ("kinshō," or, “gold general”).""
Thus, what might have been inferred, perhaps, was that a, "Chicote," in a pipe, was, more or less, alike unto a, "Chi Chót," if it did indeed implicate such.
A, "Chót," of course, meaning something at the, "Bottom," "Lowest Extremity," or, "End," of something, and from there, or at that point, perhaps even then moving forward.
Chicote, apart from being a form of Tobacco, was also, in all truth, a form of, "Whip," known for being a Scourge, in places like the Congo.
The NicNeven, had already caught wise to this, and also how, this form of Tobacco, may have had it's own "Xicohtli (a Nahuatl word, for, "Bumblebee")."
I guess, what needed to be said most (as a nod to the Indigenous People), was that they were good to hold a Peace over the Herb, and also Bow...
Some people may have needed a Peace Blessed over them, knowing the Nature of how all Words exist with ties to Power.
…
This time, however, she was not merely dreaming with the pipe. She aimed to begin work on something more pivotal. Holding her peace, over them, as though the Time Wraiths had not, in fact, been led by her to keep a different mindset, themselves, she kept them aware, of the part of her mind they were let in by.
A part, they would not be able to share. When inhaling, she did so with a strickening wind, through sympathetic diacords and resonance fields, and from a region locked onto by the Time Wraiths collective awareness. The NicNeven (we presume, remaining silent somewhere at the top of an, "imaginary," but quite irregal, circuit of Heaven, and with her pipe), had her whole lot hidden safely away, and blessed unseen.
She, "wind-let," her chosen remote area, with the pipe, from a distance, as though it were a whip and a scourge, creating yet another (this time stronger), bane.
Her smoke summons, were such that, she hoped to collect and open them, one day, as a portal, to dawn on the World.
As for the pipe vision. This one was well formed. She might have make a centrepiece of it, on table somewhere.
Many of them, rested on glass plates, with glass cases overtop. After their Surveillance Circuit had run, "Ash-Line Data," or, "Pipe Particle Intel," was fed through a Computer on the Ash-Configuracy, Analysis-Observancy Program, of the, 'Night-Watch Circuit', of the, "Time Wraiths"-Network, and for a Number of Reasons...
One, being that the Data, would often be used to reproduce these, "In-Pipe Visions," as, "Viable Product-for-Sale ("Furnishings from the, "Furnace,"" so-to-speak)," and so they needed a Good Record of Analysis kept for Reproduction. "Pipe Reproductions," would be made using more Durable Materials, and Non-Smokable Materials. The Data, would also allow the group to Configure Predictions of Ash-Shift, with a Matrix, once Measurements and Variables were Plugged into an appropriate Coded Program Logarithm, which helped them see, potential Shift Patterns, which may yet arise. The Furnishings, were to be kept as Permanent Pipes... Artefacts, for the Mansion, and Museum, of Swarma.
'Necrolith Spectre'. ~ The NicNeven's, "Necrolith Spectre," had a very real premise. She, had drawn Chi through her Summon of Feiz, by a Fix. ~
"Chi (# 14)": https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%A1
"Summon ("Korean," Language)": 徴 https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BE%B4#Japanese
"Feiz ("Zhuang," Language)": https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/feiz#Zhuang
"Fix ("Bouyei," Language)": https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/fix
Andrew wrote obscurely,
My thought is that the Jinwen Bian, Bronze Inscription, of, "Fá (in the Mandarin Language)," ties itself over to, "Fät (in the "Volapük," Language)," and thus relates to, "Fate," and, "Karma."
"Fat (in the Cantonese Language)," means, "Buddha," and is related to, "Fá (in Mandarin)," while, "Fät (in the Voläpuk Language)," is characteristic of, "Buddhist Philosophy."
Does anyone else see the Structure of the Modern, "Wheel," in the Mandarin, "Fá?" - A.W.T. (November 18th, 2020).

No-one knew why. *

‘A, “Marrow Vin Gean”’.
The Holy Spirit Sword cuts through to the Marrow. This is intended to mean that it is versatile. Only, more to the point, that it is not intended for vice.
How this happens, is that it has verses, in tandem occurrence, operating in relevant reflection, on Scripture, and is designed to heal. That is… before having thought of attack or rendering anyone ineffectual.
Wisdom from Jesus, in Scripture, teaches us, that, without Doctrinal relevance, and Revelation, we live on a Dying Planet and cause it.
~ Falling out of our mouths, if I may add. ~ The tongue is a venomous instrument, which apart from destroying, needs to be bridled with Scriptural Truth and or the Gospel, or healing falls away from what we know of vital spirit, sowing, growing, engrafting, and planning.
However picking up on any dead line of “Prayer Chain (for things truly are, by introspection, a righteously bidden, divine godly judgement's in of how to live by a planetary Monodeism and not just by correspondence, but mainly faith in Him),” to help, Christianly, defeat the death of the soul. [Angelic parameters, of what’s barred, of course had in, or it’s out a’barren]
Marrow is where the Blood Cells are created before reaching the Circulatory System.
This is in the bone.
Luz is the Catholic-Bidden Vertebrae/Spinal Column Bone for Resurrection.
As Jesus commands one to Live or the Tree not to grow for being of ill time, Our lines have a prayer solvency to that line of fess, by the Vin, or vine, and gean or Spirit.
However, Merovingeans are babylonian Dragon order. We needed it bidden less graven.

Remember the Holy Ghost is of the Burning Bush, with Moses, in Exodus, in The Holy Bible (and not only there).

A Spirit Sword (Of The LORD), bids first how to save. One, “should,” not desire to dare another into fire, as God graces the time by his hand.
Made of Heaven, wise, the sword knows the hairs on the heads of the utilizers and counting unequal, may perform.
That is, off for bolder lead, and even balded for baring, out of the Worker’s Parable of God’s Constance and Unequal Nature, bearers of it's Fire, may see, and do oft’ find some in their know, of the Church Hold on Word.
Obvious?
This is the Rate Of Pay, in the Vineyard Parable, of the Workers who worked (un-in Mammon), for their Lord (Christ), earlier, and then some other, later (ie. When, in Truth, found bidden in and by Him, a fair constant is maintained, no matter World Climate, in the Fellowship), for and not toward, the forever, for they may not be bidden.
God unriddled.
Jesus, is the Amen in Revelations 3:14, He Ransoms Believers Souls, through Self Sacrifice and Sovereign Service, his father, created and lawed through the covenants, and the commandments, and owned all heaven host and hierarch, and the Holy Spirit, Blessed the Way.
'On What Could Have Been'.
An expensive matryoshka was brought in for Ralph to look at...
He received the package at his Estate, and had a hard time with his spectacles, adjusting them trying to read the fine print.
The brown paper parcel, with white sticker, opened to a smaller purple gift box, within it. The gift box was about the size of an order of chow mein, and from within the lilac tissue paper inside, was a golden doll. Andrei, Fu, and Evelyn, had driven back and were now seated around Mr. Dizzmith.
Well, here it is, he stated. No word of who it's from, not to mention that I'm not working anymore.
Is it another antique asked Andrei?
Yes, and well, I think it is, replied the Senior, but the thing is, I don't know how to open it. It's a Matryoshka or Russian Nesting Doll, and this one is rather expensive, but the Middle Circumference of the Doll has a Twistable-Dial Lock, and I've never known that to be the case before.
Would you wager all the others inside it are like that, too? asked Evelyn. I know what Matryoshkas are, but you're right. This one DOES seem a little bedeviled.
Perhaps said Ralph.
Do you think there is anything inside, asked Fu.
It looks a little weighty. Is it a bomb? Asked Evelyn.
Nobody would bomb a man like Mr. Dizzmith, said Andrei, but just to be on the safe side, I'll look it up. Andrei pulled out his Smart Phone.
Most bombs don't have Passcodes, said Fu. Look, the Passcode is right here on the box.
It says the code can be adjusted and is made to be matrilineal.
This is most definitely a finely-crafted specimen then, but how does it work? asked Ralph.
Well, it looks like every Doll has two turnable dials at the vertical middle, which run horizontal and around the circumference. These are adjusted from within, when open, and numerically set with dates for a passcode, before the top and bottom on each doll are latched, that is. Each doll is secured, around and over the former one, which has been latched or fastened, and each, in so doing, has its dials consecutively scrambled from the outside, before putting the next doll on it. The dolls are hollow, and increase in scale, to fit, while the locks operate by Birth Years of mothers, or rather, daughters. If one Mother or Grandmother, leaves a Sum, in her Will, to the, 'Matryoshka Fund', it will Increase in Interest, and if they send an Heirloom in With the Money, once the Company is Informed of the Birth of the Final Child, they will send the Doll to the Final Child, Heirloom within It. The Family History, and Records are Sent too, as the Locks are Set with Birth Years, of Mothers, in Chronological Order or First to Last, and this Prevents the Wrong Families from Accessing the Contents.
If No Contents, are Sent by the Ancestral Will-Bearer, Gifts-in-Shop, may also be Included, upon Initial Order Selection.
The Company/Fund, occasionally Touches Base with the Families, but this is Less Common.
Who is it for? asked Evelyn.
I have no idea, but there's some Weird Vial in it!
What could it be of, though?
Well, Matryoshka's are generally not compartments, made use of, for containing things, but this appears to be a Vial of Oil.
"Oyle," is a rare name for the Saviour, "Jesus Christ," remarked Andrei.
"Oyle ("Middle English," Language)": # 2.4. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/oyle Maybe an Heiress, then? said Ralph. WHO could she have been?!

submitted by Bogey4hoo to u/Bogey4hoo [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 14:22 Prestigious-String90 Some things to do in Macon this week (6/5 - 6/11)

There are always things going on in Middle Georgia, though finding out about them can be a challenge. Here are a few interesting events taking place this week: read the full article on Middle Georgia Times for more.
THURSDAY, JUNE 8
Macon Bike Party: Rivoli Roll (6 - 8 p.m.)
On Thursday, Bike Walk Macon will throw another Macon Bike Party, this time exploring North Macon and Bolingbroke. Macon Bike Parties are “slow-paced community bicycle ride[s]” that allow participants to see Macon neighborhoods from a different perspective.
- The Triangle - 1425 Old Forsyth Road, Macon
FRIDAY, JUNE 9
Boz Scaggs at the Macon City Auditorium (7:30 p.m.)
The multitalented Boz Scaggs will be performing at the Macon City Auditorium on Friday evening. Scaggs is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was a bandmate of Steve Miller) in both The Ardells and the Steven Miller Band and is also credited for helping the formation of the band TOTO). Tickets start at $46.75 on Ticketmaster.com.
- Macon City Auditorium - 415 First Street, Macon
Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Grand Opera House (7:30 p.m.)
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a completely self-taught guitarist, singer, and songwriter who performs blues-infused rock n' roll music. Ally Venable, a young guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Texas will open for Shepherd at the historic Grand Opera House in Downtown Macon. Tickets to the Kenny Wayne Shepherd concert start at $49.
- Grand Opera House - 651 Mulberry Street, Macon
SATURDAY, JUNE 10
The Great Art Hunt in Downtown Macon (9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.)
The Great Art Hunt returns this Saturday. This fun event involves a map and a list of clues that are meant to help you find the many murals and sculptures located around Downtown Macon. Teams wil take pictures at the art they are able to location and if the teams find all 20 locations, the team will be entered into a drawing for a week long vacation on St. George Island (for those 18 and older). There will also be small mini-prizes to find along the way as well as a Great Art Hunt tote bag. The event starts at The 567 Center any time between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. The event ends at 7 p.m. when the photos must be emailed to The 567 Center as proof. Children 10 years old and under can participate for free (though they will not receive a t-shirt or tote bag). Tickets are $100 for a team of 4, $80 for a team of 3, or $60 for a team of 2.
- The 567 Center - 456 1st Street, Macon
Bird Day at the Museum of Arts and Sciences (10 a.m.)
The Museum of Arts and Sciences will hold their annual Bird Day on Saturday morning. Participants will see the Museum’s birds and learn all about the many types of birds from special guests from the Georgia Falconry Association (Dennis Mock and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Davis). Bird Day activities are included with regular museum admission for Saturday (which is $12.95 for adults, $10.95 for seniors and students, and $6.95 for children 6 to 16 years of age) and museum members receive free entry.
- Museum of Arts and Sciences - 4182 Forsyth Road, Macon
Picnic in the Park Food Truck Festival (11 a.m. - 4 p.m.)
The 5th Annual Picnic in the Park Food Truck Festival will take place Saturday morning in Carolyn Crayton Park (f/k/a Central City Park) Members of the public are invited to bring their families and pop-up tents, picnic blankets, and chairs for lots of food and fun.
- Macon Bibb County Recreation - 150 Willie Smokie Glover Drive, Macon
SUNDAY, JUNE 11
Macon Film Guild presents “Other People’s Children” at the Douglass Theatre (2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.)
“Other People’s Children” is a drama/comedy from France that deals with the complications that occur when two middle aged people fall in love while one of them has a young daughter (and an ex-wife in the picture) to consider. This movie will include subtitles and is not rated. Admission to the screening of “Other People’s Children” is a very reasonable $5.
- The Douglass Theatre - 355 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Macon
Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment about the event you are psyched about this week.

submitted by Prestigious-String90 to macon [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 09:04 TheGeekyZoologist Jurassic World: The Hegemony of Biosyn (JWD rewrite) - Act III

See the previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/1419mpy/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_dominion/ https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/142b35e/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_jwd_rewrite/

Act III - The Gathering of the Clouds

Mia Everett
Visually confirming Rainn's revelation, Victoria is shown in a cage inside Amelia Everett's lab, within Biosyn's Citadel. Mia does her best to comfort the scared and depressed Achillobator and her motivations are explored shortly after. It's revealed that due to her experience within the team who made the Indominus and the Indoraptor, Biosyn tasked her with reviving InGen's IBRIS program by breeding raptors with high obedience potential. However, none of the achillobators cloned by Biosyn proved to be trainable enough for the program's ambitions (even though they attempted to mimic Owen's experience by having keepers being there at the animals' birth), which displeased Dodgson and the other higher-ups, who are now favouring another research team, who focuses on a more intrusive way of controlling dinosaurs. Basically treated as a second-class researcher amidst a rather toxic work environment, Mia became desperate enough to hire poachers to capture Blue, which she intended to breed with their achillobators in order to finally have trainable individuals. As Victoria is not sexually mature, Mia is in front of a considerable setback and fears that Dodgson will pull the plug due to her lack of results, especially in this troubled period for Biosyn.
The tying noose
The next day, the intel collected by the UN agents (people involved in the Black Market, Biosyn's connections with it) are sent to the nearby countries, including Italy, where an arrest warrant is launched against Kayla.
On his side, Isaac Gibbon is contacted by Bigelow who tells him about the debacle of their mission in Malta, saying that Claire and Owen saved the grey guards from disaster. He orders her to stay in Italy for the moment and wait for new orders. Shortly receives, he receives a candidate for a desk job in the DSD: It's Franklin. Gibbon tells Franklin he heard about his bravery during the 2019 incidents and his past connection with InGen (Before the DPG, Franklin worked for it as an IT Technician), before asking questions about Claire as he is aware that she collaborated with him not only on some occasions in the past few years but also in the 2019 Costa Rican incident, where Franklin was the couple's companion while they were running from InGen's agents and the authorities.
Dubrovnik
The inhabitants and tourists of the Croatian seaside city of Dubrovnik are surprised when a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus descends upon the old town and starts attacking people. As a joke similar to one in TLW with the Japanese businessman and his reference to Godzilla, some extra could yell in Valyrian "I left Westeros because of this!" or "By the Seven, not again!" (Dubrovnik was one of Game of Thrones' filming location).
Ramsay's email
In a manner similar to the Hawaii attack scene in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, the Dubrovnik scene cuts just as the Quetzal swoops on the bystanders and we are now in the bar of Biosyn's employee village. Wu is watching the news of the Dubrovnik attack on the TV (there is even a declaration from Zoe Murdoch, in which she denies the pterosaur came from Auronzo's Sanctuary and was probably created by a rival company who somehow put their hands upon Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus DNA. In the bar, someone whisper that one of their Quetzals did escaped from the valley thanks to the temporary deactivation of the invisible fence system and that Dodgson has launched an investigation to know who's responsible) when he receives a mysterious email from Ramsay, which includes the name of some woman. Wu search it on the internet and ends up on IMDB where he discovers that the adult "Charlotte" on the videos is actually an actress who lives in London.
Arrest
In Rome, early in the morning, Kayla is arrested in her flat by the police as she is accused of illegal smuggling.
Viscontini
Following all the incidents in the Alps, the clash in the Sabine Hills and the recent Dubrovnik attack, people gets pissed at Biosyn and protests occur in several locations, including Rome. In the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Viscontini has an argument with Pazzi, declaring that they need to take severe actions against Biosyn but the minister retorts that taking large-scale actions against the corporation might trigger a whole deal of undesirable consequences, including deteriorating US-Italian relations due to the close ties between Biosyn and the US government. He won't risk that just because of some rumours, weak proof and small incidents. Viscontini retorts that soon, Biosyn might have an angry mob showing at its gates with the goal of driving it out of Italy.
Following Vuillier's instructions, Claire, Owen, Nyamu and Dougal leave Malta the same day and fly to the Eternal City, where they have to meet Viscontini in the AISI headquarters. There, they have a video call with Vuillier. He and Viscontini wants to send the trio of WDMC agents to Auronzo Valley so they can infiltrate Biosyn's facility, find compromising information and transmit them to the Italian authorities, hoping to finally convince Pazzi and the rest of the government to take action against Biosyn. However, one of the agents points out that they will need an entrance ticket as one doesn't simply walk into Auronzo, since the borders of Biosyn's lands are guarded and monitored while some people disappeared after going too close from the Sanctuary (anti-Biosyn activists, reckless adventurers, Grendel Corporation's spies, others from the AISI's and Austrian government). Viscontini declare they might have that ticket.
We cut to Kayla in her prison cell. The guard announces she has visit and she is brought to a room where Viscontini and Dougal waits for her. The head of the AISI and the WDMC agent then negotiate with her: In exchange for her freedom, she will bring Dougal, Claire and Owen to Biosyn's Sanctuary. However, Viscontini precise he'll have her hunted down if she ever betrays them.
Kayla raises the fact that she can't show up at Auronzo like this and needs a motive. Viscontini and Dougal then talk about the animals seized in Malta's black market.
Theo's Mission
That day, Wu summons Theo, explain the whole issue with the fake Charlotte and ask him to go to London, find the actress and question her about the videos so they can have proofs to show Maisie, who started to really become insufferable because of Dodgson's bad influence (in that part of the story, one of the few scenes where she's likeable is one where she and Drummond bonds over the common passion for dinosaurs). The ex-mercenary soon leaves Auronzo, taking a bus for Venice in the nearest village while Wu explains to Pellegrino and Dodgson that Theo had urgent family matters to deal with in the UK.
Leaving San Francisco
Desiring to supervise the Dolomites Crisis more closely, Vuillier fly to Italy.
Nine containers
As evidence of Biosyn's possible connections to the Maltese black market has been discussed on the news, Dodgson knows it's a matter of time before Vuillier, the Italians or the Austrians send people in Auronzo and expose Biosyn's misdeeds.
We then follow Pellegrino's POV as she oversees the exit of nine large mysterious containers from the Citadel and their departure from the airstrip just outside the valley. One of her subordinates asks what's inside and she answers that she has no idea, with Dodgson only giving her a series of instructions. They watch the containers being flown abroad.
The following day, Pellegrino speak about it to Wu and other employees with anti-Dodgson sentiments like Drummond. She notices that Wu is uncomfortable as they talk about it and realize he must be hiding something. Ramsay, who just arrived from the US in preparation for a big corporate event in the Citadel, almost surprise their discussion. As they're not sure if they can trust him or not, they pretend it's nothing. Wu then phones Theo and asks him about his secret mission's progress.
London
In London, Theo finds the actress from the videos and initially posing as a reporter, filming her in an interview, he then ask her questions about the videos and after some hesitations, she concedes to give him answers and reveals among other things that the shooting occurred a few months ago in some local warehouse, that the director of those videos is none other than Colin Trevorrow (who, desperate for a job after the debacle of the Jurassic World film, accepted to participate to that project, oblivious that Biosyn was behind it since a dummy company took care of the production).
AISI
Vuillier arrives in Rome and meets with his agents, Nyamu and Viscontini in one of the AISI headquarters' conference rooms, where a map of Auronzo Valley and its surroundings has been laid. Kayla is also there and offscreen, our characters talk about the plan.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Vuillier and Viscontini leave the room. Both have a secret conversation during which the Italian say that the Grey Guard's Mediterranean Company, supported by the Austrians and secretly by him (as he fears that Biosyn has informers within the Italian government), are deployed in one of the villages near Auronzo, and is supposed to act as a Plan B should the Claire-Owen-Dougal trio fail, by taking a secret path through an old mine and a mountain pass before breaking into Biosyn's citadel. The WDMC agents don't know that and when Vuillier ask why, Viscontini answers that it's better that way (should the agents be captured ant tortured, they won't tell Biosyn that there is a second team) and that the secret path isn't safer as one of his spy was killed by some creature after taking it and arriving in sight of the valley. He thinks that a small dozen of grey guards have better chances surviving the pass' guardian(s) than three civilian agents.
To the Dolomites
The next day, in the middle of the morning, Kayla is preparing her plane in some airstrip near Rome and the seized creature from the black market is loaded in the hold (I have no idea which species to choose). Equipped by the Italians, Claire, Owen and Dougal say farewell to Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini. The Frenchman tells Claire that it's time to unleash the She-wolf upon Dodgson but Claire correct him by saying "Not the She-wolf. The Dragon." (in this AU, she has a particular connection with the dragon-like Indominus), implying she'll get the mission done whatever it takes. He and the other two men wish them good luck and the trio of WDMC agents climb aboard the plane. They soon take off.
Biosyn's aerial defense
Kayla's plane arrives in sight of the mountains which delimit Biosyn's Sanctuary. Informed of their mission by Vuillier and Viscontini, one of the grey guards is watching the plane through his binoculars as it passes over the village where they are staying.
Kayla is soon contacted by the Citadel's control room as they detected the aircraft on their radars and they ask her why she's coming. The pilot answer that she collected an animal which might interest them (she told the WDMC agents and the Italians that Biosyn doesn't have this particular species in their Sanctuary) and ask to land on their airstrip. While the Biosyn employees discuss, the plane is about to enter Auronzo Valley by the east, as that part of the sanctuary is the furthest from most of the buildings (while the airstrip is in the northernmost parts of Biosyn's lands, beyond the mountains with the frozen dam lake) and thus where Claire, Owen and Dougal has the best chances of landing unnoticed. The trio of agents take their parachutes and prepare to jump, but at the same time, Dodgson, who heard that Kayla was arrested by the authorities just a few days ago, fears that her plane is a Trojan horse and decides to activate the valley's "aerial defense". On the screen of one of the room's monitors, we see a group of dots heading straight towards the plane. It's actually a group of pteranodons, from the same toothed variant as those who appeared in Jurassic Park 3 (there is even at least one black male identical to the scrapped one from Johnston's film), and they just collide with the plane, crashing against the cockpit and getting turned to shred by the rotors' blades, damaging the plane (the scene is partly inspired by a cutscene from the Ninth Mission of Paraworld's campaign). Owen wonder why those pteranodons behave in a suicidal manner. Suddenly, the pteranodons retreat and as their window is shrinking, the agents know they have to jump now (they've reached the middle of the valley and their trajectory deviated northwards, towards the mountain dam). Claire jumps first but as Owen is about to jump in his turn, the plane is attacked by a Quetzalcoatlus and the Raptor Whisperer sees another and a few pteranodons chasing her fiancée, whose parachute opened. Claire shakes the pterosaurs off by disappearing into the valley's dense forest. As they will be grabbed by the attacking pterosaurs as soon as they leave the aircraft, Owen, Dougal and Kayla stay inside it and brace for the crash. The plane crashes down at the surface of the frozen lake by the mountain dam in the northern part of the valley.
Back in Rome, Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini are worried as they heard the agents and the pterosaurs' screams (they had an open channel all that time with Kayla's plane). They hope the agents will survive this ordeal and activate the beacons they were given before their departure.
Note: The fate of the animal they took with them is still unclear for me. It really depends on the chosen species. If it's something large and potentially dangerous, Kayla would probably want to drop it in the valley in order to have a lighter plane and not deal with it after crashing. But if it's a creature about the size of a small dog for example, they could free it as they leave the wreckage.
Gigantoraptor
We then cut to Claire hanging in the trees but instead of a Therizinosaurus (which already appeared in TRQ. Moreover, Claire had a small arc with this species in that story), she is threatened by a Gigantoraptor. The scene plays out much like the Theri scene from Trevorrow's version, with Claire hiding in a pond etc.. Once the Gigantoraptor walks away, Claire gets out of the pond and sees the fumes from the plane's crash in the distance, behind the mountain dam.
The dam lake
Before it sinks in the lake, Owen, Dougal and Kayla leave her plane and step on the ice. Under it, they notice a large shadow and know they better move away from the lake. They notice a ladder by the dam but as they head towards it, a Quetzalcoatlus or a Pteranodon lands on their way. They step back, moving towards an opening on the lake's surface. Suddenly, a giant 9-meters long temnospondyl (based upon an unnamed and fragmentary genus from Lesotho) burst out the water, almost killing one of the characters. Ensue a scene where our three protagonists have to evade both the pterosaur and the amphibian. The pterosaur ends up being dragged underwater by the temnospondyl but other pterosaurs arrive and to escape them, our trio climbs on the dam and rushes to its elevator, going down in the valley. Down at the dam's base, they notice it's dilapidated and Kayla tell her two companions that Biosyn sell some of its power to the nearest villages.
Note: The main doubt I have about this scene is having a temnospondyl living in the icy water of a mountain lake. It might be too much of a stretch so if you think it's not realistic at all, it will be scrapped from the scene (and perhaps be replaced by a juvenile Baryonyx or something like this, an animal which could be also the one our characters brought with them in the plane.
Plan B
Since the agents lost their beacons during the pterosaurs' attack and the crash, they couldn't tell Rome that they were still alive. Vuillier and Viscontini fear the worst and send a message to Laurenzo Cesare.
Droppings
Meanwhile, Claire started walking towards the dam, hoping to find her companions on the way if they made it out alive from the crash. When she hears a racket in the woods, she hides and a Biosyn tyrannosaur arrives. But it's not on a hunting mode and instead, it just leaves some droppings on a log near Claire's hiding place. After the predator leaves, she approaches the log and smears her face with the droppings, remembering her "Walk in the Park" with Owen when they searched her nephews during the Fall of Jurassic World (the droppings hide her smell, dissuading the other animals to investigate her).
Argument
An argument bursts out between Owen, Dougal and Kayla while they're walking south. The first wants to find his fiancée, the second says that their mission is more important, and Kayla is mad at both men since she lost her plane (and livelihood) because of the WDMC's mission. And unsure about her intentions, the two men distrust her but she tries to reassure them by saying that Biosyn can fuck off since they are also responsible for destroying her plane.
However, the Sanctuary's denizens remind them that they better be united or else it will be the failure of their quest.
At some distance, in the middle of the fog, they see the recognizable silhouette of a sauropod, that of an Argentinosaurus (the species was seen in the distance and mentioned earlier in the story. Instead of Argentinosaurus, it could also be another large titanosaur). However, this herbivore has the particularity of having a symbiotic relation with some small carnivore species within Biosyn Sanctuary (I'm more thinking about a pterosaur or a flying/semi-arboreal theropod than a strictly ground-dwelling predator. For now, the baboon-sized Variraptor is my candidate), with the Argentinosaurus letting those carnivores eat its parasites and the insects flying around it while the carnivores will let out an alarm call shall a large predator approach. It could be illustrated in a scene where an Acrocanthosaurus (the one from the Drive-in scene) is spotted by the carnivores as it passes by. The Argentinosaurus turns to face the larger predator, adopt a defensive posture, and as the acro hasn't yet moved, the smaller carnivores take off from the sauropod and flies straight to the acro's head. Harassed by those creatures, the Acrocanthosaurus retreats. Thus, if those small carnivores (which we'll call the Argentinosaurus' suite) are brave enough to attack a megatheropod, our three protagonists know they're not safe and that they better move away.
The Sanctuary's true nature
While still heading north, Claire's path crosses that of a bull Shantungosaurus. She move out of his way and stay still. She and the audience recognize the animal as he was already in the JW rewrite and TRQ (in the first story, he gained some scars after a fight with a few Metriacanthosaurus), where he was a secondary "character" (and a threat in a few scenes). Both have a peaceful scene where they make eye contact but that quiet moment is shattered when a gunshot resounds in the forest and the hadrosaur flees, badly wounded. Claire hides and in the distance, she sees a hunter, accompanied by a couple of Biosyn security guards and another employee which she presume is some sort of supervisohunting guide. Watching how the hunter is dressed and how he behave in the wild, she knows he's not a professional hunter but just a rich hobbyist and then realizes the Sanctuary's true nature: It's a hunting reserve. As the Shantungosaurus escaped them, the hunter express his discontentment at the guide, which promise to find him another quarry. They leave and following the blood trail left by the hadrosaur, Claire finds him by a stream. His wounds are too grievous and he's too weak to lash out at Claire, who kneels by his head, trying to comfort him in his last moments, up until his last breath. Watching another of her former park's animals dying fills Claire with not only grief, but also anger. She change her plans and heads back south instead of continuing northward, following the hunting party's track.
Note: It doesn't necessarily have to be a Shantungosaurus in the role of the animal shot by the hunters, but it have to be a recognizable animal from the previous installments for emotional impact and Claire's development (another candidate could be the Therizinosaurus from TRQ)
She later finds another hunting party. One of its members, a Biosyn guard, pulls out an item she recognize: a raptor resonating chamber. The guard use it like a bird call and soon, an Achillobator, arrive, believing it heard one of its kind. The poor animal is shot by the hunters, who scream in satisfaction before taking a picture with their quarry. They then brings it to the Biosyn vehicle waiting nearby but before they leave (after having a short conversation during they mention that another team captured the rex and is bringing it the paddocks), Claire deliberately attract the attention of one of the guards, the same one which used the resonating chamber, and he say to his companions he won't be long. He move away from the road and deeper in the woods, he fall into Claire's ambush. She kill him, loot some of his equipment (including the resonating chamber), hide his body and leave. Worried for his colleague, the other guard with the hunters orders the guide to drive them back to the lodge, and search his friend. But he too is murdered by Claire, who takes a small metallic box on him. Activating the box, she realize it's a sonic weapon she has seen before, in the hands of InGen Security's elite troops during the fall of Isla Nublar (it's like a weaponized version of the box Dodgson and his companions have in Crichton's TLW). She turns it off, take it with her and follows the hunters vehicle's tracks on the road, towards the lodge.
However, Claire ignores she's being watched, and not by human eyes...
Over hill
Cesare and his men leave their accommodation and head for the frontiers of Biosyn's lands. Leaving their vehicles near a ruined fort, the grey guards start their trek while the sun is setting behind the mountains ahead of them.
A bed in the trees
As walking through the valley at night would be too dangerous, Owen, Dougal and Kayla decide to find a resting place and climb in a tree. From it, they have a panorama on a nearby lake and notice they are approximately halfway between the dam and the Citadel. At this moment, we also have peaceful scenes with the valley's denizens at dusk (Pelecanimimus fishing in the lake, herbivores drinking nearby, the same Spinosaurus from the report at the beginning peacefully sitting on the bank like an oversized duck...).
Theo's peace
In the evening, just a few hours before his flight to Venice, Theo also passes by his former home, which he left years ago before joining Ken Wheatley's mercenary company. His ex-wife still lives here and noticing that she started a new life with another man and seems happy, he walks away in peace, leaving behind him the last picture he had of himself and her (earlier in the story, Theo is seen looking at said picture).
The secret path
Back in Italy, the grey guards find the entrance of an old mine and enter it, taking the path that will allow them to pass under the limits of Biosyn's lands.
Mercenaries
Mercenary troops land in Biosyn's airstrip and their leader is brought to the Citadel. He has a discussion with Dodgson behind closed doors.
Foes... or allies?
A few hours after nightfall, Claire finally finds a large old chalet with typical Tyrolean architecture: The Hunting Lodge (it's implied that it was built way before Biosyn bought those lands, when the area was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before WWI). Claire remarks it's surrounded by an invisible fence (identical to the one from Jurassic World Evolution 2's Biosyn DLC) which prevents the animals from getting too close. Aware that the lodge wouldn't be a shelter for her and that its occupants probably outnumber her, she turns away from it, continuing to wander in the woods. But just a few minutes later, she hears sound in the nearby bushes. Aware she might be hunted, she is ready to use the ultrasound box and fight for her life. A pack of Achillobators shows up, menacingly walking towards her. At the same time, it starts to rain.
Claire first thinks of using the box and running away while the predators would be bothered by the sound but she knows it will be useless in the long run as they could track her all across the Sanctuary. She then remembers the reports she read earlier in the story, and especially that of the 2001 incident on Sorna, where Alan Grant and his companions walked out alive and unharmed from a close encounter with raptors.
In dire straits, she makes up a desperate plan and carefully, she pulls out the resonating chamber she stole from the Biosyn guards. She uses it and due to their bad experience in the sanctuary with the resonating chambers' usual users, the raptors get agitated but their pack leader tells them to calm down as Claire doesn't seem to be a Biosyn guard or a hunter. The pack leader walks alone towards Claire and sniffs the dried blood on her hands and clothes, realizing it belongs to other humans. Nothing happens for a moment and then the pack leader lets out a bark. Behind Claire, two raptors move aside. Slowly walking backwards, watching carefully the raptors' moves, Claire exits the circle made by the surrounding predators and continues doing so until she's at a respectable distance. At the beginning, the raptors just watch her but as she's heading towards the Hunting Lodge, she hears them following her. However, she is aware that they would have already pounced on her if they wanted to eat her and knows that they're more intrigued. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies (there could also be a storm).
Claire reaches the invisible fence, crosses it, and searches for its power source. But as she's sabotaging it, the Lodge caretaker (a gnarly-looking old local man) spots her and frightened by her look, runs away towards the building. She is forced to catch him and, after a short struggle, kill him with her knife before he can raise the alarm. After showing some trouble due to killing a probable innocent, she resumes her sabotage and the fence is deactivated. The raptors cross it and see Claire entering the lodge. Near its entrance, she finds a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative element and noticing it's still sharp, she takes it along with its sheath and heads for the rooms. Behind her, the raptors open the door and silently enter in the lodge. In the hallway which leads to the rooms, Claire stays still when the raptors walk past her as they head to the rooms and grin as her audacious plan is working. Claire enters one of the rooms, raises her sword blade over a sleeping hunter and when the time comes, thrust it into his body. Meanwhile, the raptors open other doors and entering the rooms, they rush on the sleepers. Slaughter ensues and only those who locked up their doors have the time to wake up, grab a weapon and fight for their very survival. Some of the lodge's occupants offer some resistance in the lounge but there, Claire activates the sonic weapon she stole and an ear-piercing sharp sound comes from it. While the raptors back off behind her, their common enemies kneel and scream in pain and Claire (who put on some earplug) slashes their throats, deactivate the weapon, and let the raptors tear the hunters alive while she raids some items (stuff like snacks, water, a first-aid kit, a map...) and leave, disappearing in the woods.
A bit later, she finds a small cave whose entrance is high from the ground and rest in it, sleeping until mid-morning.
The mountain's pass
At the end of their night-long ascent, the grey guards arrive in a pass/cave where they found human bones, which they presume to be those of the AISI's spy Viscontini told them about, and the remains of a Biosyn drone. Soon after, they are attacked by the guardian animal(s) the corporation left there to kill any trespasser coming from that direction. (I haven't chosen any species yet). They manage to defeat it (or them) and dawn break out as they arrive at a vista point which overlooks the valley. The grey guards observe it, the eyes of Cesare stop on the Citadel for a moment, and they retreat back inside the mountain to rest a few hours before descending into the valley. They send a message to Vuillier and Viscontini, telling them that they're inside the Sanctuary.
Traces of a slaughter
During their early morning patrol, a security team discovers that a massacre occurred during the night in the Hunting Lodge. They find clues indicating that someone helped the raptors and participated in the killings. The control room check the Lodge CCTV footage and fear spreads like wildfire among the staff when they discover the culprit is a sinister-looking black-clad hooded woman. Seeing that one of the figure's hand is a prosthesis and that the other wear a silver ring with a red gem, they realize it's Claire and Dodgson pretty much start to crap his pants (partly because one of the hunters was a very wealthy and powerful foreign client whose disappearance won't go unnoticed). Since she made it out alive from the plane's crash, Dodgson fears that the other WDMC agents might have too. When asked about the slaughter itself, Dodgson orders his staff to cover it up for the moment, as he don't want to worry the board of directors who are set to arrive later that day for a big event he planned in the evening.
Theo's return
Theo returns to Auronzo and Wu, who just learned about Claire's presence in the valley, tells him that they must get Maisie out of the facility as soon as possible since disaster tends to follow Claire like a shadow.
Taking the gloves off
However, Maisie has meanwhile discovered that the videos were another lie, by recognizing one of the scientists from the video, who also work at the Citadel (and who didn't aged, even though the adult Charlotte's video was supposed to be taken fourteen years ago). Aware that the gentle method is no longer considerable, Dodgson decides to use the hard one and Doctor Lesser locks Maisie in a cell within her lab, to which Wu can't access. Lesser reveal that it wasn't Wu who told Dodgson that she was a clone but the spy he has among Lockwood Manor's employees, and that the only true part in the video was the one about the genetic disease: Charlotte did had it, just like her mother Elizabeth before that (she died in 1993 and it was because of her Lockwood and Hammond fell out), and had the car accident which took her life didn't happened, the disease would have killed her a few years later. As he wanted Maisie to have a long life, Benjamin Lockwood asked the scientists he hired (there is a whole subplot about what they became in TRQ) to cure it and they did find a way. As the scientists' notes were accidently destroyed, the solution is now within Maisie's body, and Dodgson wants it so he can put new drugs on the market.
Before it's too late, Wu and Theo, with Ramsay's help, start organizing Maisie's evasion. The geneticist mentions a secret trail from WWI in the northeastern mountains: It's their escape route. He then heads for his lab, planning something else.
Tracking Claire
Curious about Biosyn's movements around the Hunting Lodge, Owen, Dougal and Kayla investigate it after the departure of the security troops. They discover evidence of Claire's passage and Owen tries to follow her fiancée's tracks. Kayla and/or Dougal make comments about the slaughter of the hunters.
Bigelow's last chance
Isaac Gibbon gives Jessica Bigelow a new mission: Go to Auronzo and ensure the evacuation of Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's most important research. The agent ask her boss why and he said that he just received news that Biosyn is compromised. He also precise that it's her last chance after the Malta fiasco. Bigelow leave her safe house in central Italy and goes north.
Shady preparations
Continuing south, Owen, Dougal and Kayla see mercenaries positioning some sort of moveable antenna on a ridge which overlooks the road which connects the Citadel to the valley's northern continue, as finding Claire and entering the Citadel is more urgent.
The gathering of the clouds
One of the control room's employees ask Dodgson to come. He shows him footage from the Biosyn lands's southern gate, near the employee village.
Before the gate, a group of Carabinieri stand, showing to the guards and the security cameras a search warrant: The government finally decided to act against Biosyn. But Dodgson refuses to open the gates for the Carabinieri and orders the mercenaries who arrived during the night to intimidate them. The Carabinieri move away from the gate, with their leader warning against the consequences of such an action. At a respectable distance from the gate, Vuillier, Viscontini and Nyamu watched the scene. Soon, other groups of Carabinieri are deployed along the other entrances to Biosyn's lands. The siege of Auronzo has started.
Hearing about the siege's situation, some employees leave their post and head for the metro (which connects the Citadel to the village. Another loop also connects the Citadel to the various facilities across the Sanctuary, including the seven towers and the dam), in order to go to the village and then hoping to be able to leave Biosyn's lands before things starts to get too ugly but Dodgson's has the metro's station locked and commands them to go back to their posts. Seeing their CEO starting to act like Hitler in his bunker, they are afraid.

End of Act III.
See you tomorrow for Act IV

submitted by TheGeekyZoologist to JurassicPark [link] [comments]

2023.06.07 02:58 SamiGod1026 Kind of a dark clue there, Murphy

submitted by SamiGod1026 to HPHogwartsMystery [link] [comments]