"Isn't my purebred pug just adorable?" the creature I call master says, brushing off my cries for help.

Hey friends; just wanted to post a quick Part 2 re: my prior post on what it’s like being a healthcare worker right now.

Firstly, a big thanks to everyone who went out and got boosted, wore a mask, and social distanced. It seems stupid but the little things help a ton right now.

Things have unfortunately significantly worsened since my last update. I will try to keep this brief and a bit more organized than last time. I will break the update up into segments: an Overview, COVID, & Staffing. As well as some recommendations at the end.

So overall the RI hospital system is at the limit right now. Many of you have likely seen the article by the RIACEP (RI Emergency Doctors Assoc.) published in the Boston Globe, for those that haven’t essentially our hospitals are on the brink of collapse. We use a scoring system called NEDOCS which tells us how severe the crowding situation is. Every hospital in the state is currently at level 6 out of 6 meaning every hospital in the state is “dangerously overcrowded”. I think the most poignant observation made about our current situation is that if there was a mass casualty event, even something as small as a multiple car pile up on 95 due to the snow, we could not handle it right now. Care is being compromised and patients are not getting the treatment they need in a timely manner. ED wait times for non-life or death situations are 7-14 hours. I’ve had several instances where patients have checked in, gotten frustrated with the wait and left, only to be brought in by EMS days later actively dying from something we could have stopped had they stayed. Even those who are critically ill are stuck in the ED waiting, intubated & sedated, praying for an ICU bed to open. Up on the floors of the hospital it isn’t much better. Every bed that can be filled is full. Wait times for labs, imaging, and medications are prolonging hospital stays and slowing the entire system down. We are running short on critical medications. We don’t have enough ventilators. If a patient suddenly decompensates there is no room in the ICU for them. We do our best to keep them alive until one opens. Every so often an ICU nurse will come by and check on them until a bed opens. For those in the ED who have been admitted to the hospital, there are no beds upstairs. We come down and treat them in the ED. They stay in their ER bed until a floor bed opens. I have treated patients for DAYS in the ED, even admitted and discharged a few patients who spent

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"Nothing is good enough for the Terran military machine. Where other races reach a certain point of combat effectiveness and martial might and say 'this is perfection, nothing will ever be better' a Terran will say 'ok, but can we make it more deadly?'

"This attitude is why any race, when they misconstrue the majority of humanity's willingness to just dance around having fun, are so shocked when they come face to face with the actual human military.

"Most of these species have attacked lightly armed civilian vessels, or poorly guarded colonies, or militias with obsolete equipment and made all of their military planning based on that alone.

"Almost as if the BOLO supertank is invisible, as if that vast self-aware stadium sized engine of destruction is something they can just ignore. Most species can't envision the fact that the Terrans designed entire ships around moving those vast engines of warfare.

"But beyond ships, tanks, even past the power armor and the man portable weapons, every single species, every single time, is absolutely shocked at the effectiveness, deadliness, and absolute force projector that is the Terran infantryman.

"Over their history they have undergone strength training, constant combat training. Later, in their history at least, they were enhanced with chemicals, cybernetics, phasic enhancers, unholy blendings of one or more.

"All with the simple question: How can we increase our soldier's killing power?

"There is no pinnacle of martial might to a Terran. How can there be, when they believe perfection is a road not a goal?

"Just the simple citizen-soldier Terran is one of the most fearsome engines of destruction the universe has ever seen.

"They climb over their own dead like the Mantid assaulting a rival hive. They move as one coordinated whole like the Treana'ad sweeping across the plains. They are as paranoid as a Pubvian in a crowd. They are as strong and fearsome as a Rigellian female defending her ducks. They are as cunning and quick to strike and fade back as a Kobold.

"A Terran is like the universe itself looked at all of the advantages of all the other races possessed and said: You know what, I wonder what would happe

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Many species have wondered exactly what can stop Terran Descent Humanity. They feel sure that somewhere out there is something that can withstand the might of the Terran Descent Humanity's overwhelming strength, adaptability, and resilience.

There was a planet that could have. Everything about the planet, from the weather, to the microbes, to the flora and fauna, was designed to kill Terran Descent Humanity. Some of the creatures upon that planet even looked at the toxic stew of the human body and saw it as food.

I am sometimes asked what happened to that planet. What happened to those creatures?

The answer is simple: The Mantids Glassed it eight thousand years ago.

And Terran Descent Humanity, being humanity, recreated it in all of its lethal glory.

Behold: TerraSol. - Most High Great Super Secret Agent Ba'ahn Ya'ard, Lanaktallan espionage agent, TerraSol, 86th Century

People think of Terrans and only think of Terran Descent Humanity, the Clone Consortium, Digital Sentiences, and, of course, the cyborgs. People know that the humans were lonely, so they cloned themselves, created advanced digital sentiences in their image, and even journeyed out into the stars to find friends.

What they often forget is the Biological Artificial Sentience Systems. Most think it's simply genetically altered humans or humans reskinned into a new body.

They forget about one simple thing the humans did before even achieving superluminal flight.

The Uplift.

Behold: Humanity's Children. - General A'armo'o, the Atomic Hooves, Reflections upon War.

They lost us for over eight thousand years.

They did not forget us.

Just as we would never forget them. - CW3 Jack "Chief" Nuntru, The Scent of Memories Upon the WInd

Ralvex flexed his knees slightly as the striker set down. His armor felt light, almost like cloth, even though it weighed over five hundred kilos. It was heavy scout armor, with power assist, movement assist, light battlescreens, grav spike generation, and inertia dampeners.

It was just lighter than his thousand kilo heavy assault suit he had worn for the last three years of fighting on Genverall-3 against the Dwellerspawn and

###TL;DR:

It's hard to really put a TL;DR for the whole post. However, much of the length of the post is just my thoughts or explanations around motivations for selecting certain players. If you don't care about that or you think you already would have a good idea about those things yourself, feel free to skip straight to the trade machine links - they will have everything you need to know about the actual trade ideas.

###Background

Ever since rumors started swirling about the Pacers possibly tanking and/or shaking up their core, looking to move Domantas Sabonis and/or Myles Turner as well as possibly Caris LeVert, I've been salivating at the thought of at least one of those two guys being on the Kings. Recently I've also seen several people on this subreddit saying things like "if you want the Kings to make a move why don't you come up with some actual ideas?" "Jump in the trade machine and make something happen." (Not to me, just in general.) So... I did!

I did a little bit (emphasis on little bit) of digging around r/pacers and Pacers media to see what kind of things the Pacers might want, how their fanbase and beat reporters feel about players on their team and our team (and others), etc. Then messed around in the trade machine to come up with a few scenarios that I think are fair, fit both team's needs (or wants), and most importantly could actually have a chance of happening for real.

###Disclaimer/Preface

I'm not an NBA trade expert. I'm just a guy that's watched the Kings since ~2000, when I was a kid in kindergarten (ish). My thoughts on some of the Kings current key players:

• I love Fox, probably my favorite Kings player since Chris Webber. However, he seems to have found himself in a weird position where he's kind of the odd man out in the Kings' young guard core, despite being the first and currently probably the best (and still being very young). He seems to be a great dude that's historically been a very motivated and hard-working player, improving his game a lot over his rookie contract. But for whatever reason, the fit between him and the Kings doesn't feel right. Could be smoke, or not. I think he could be that #1 go-to player on a playoff team, but will need a vocal leader to play alongside because that's just not who he is. Worst case, I think he can be a dude like Mike Conley on the Jazz - reliable and solid #2 guy on any team up to a championship-caliber team that's All-Star or fringe All-Star caliber.
• Hali is damn amazing.

We Were Mistaken

We are the Thonraxians. For two millennia, we have ruled a wide sector of this galaxy. A thousand species bend to our will, the wealth of ten thousand systems flows into our hands. The great golden throneship, symbol of Protartis the Third, the one whose many glorious titles cannot be recited in a single year, has orbited our star – undisturbed - for a millennium.

We watched 6 centuries ago as a young species, far out on the third arm, broke the bonds of their home world. They spread and colonized their home system, as so many had done before. Discovering the means to move between stars, they began to colonize other systems.

We watched as they encountered the My’an’tr’si. Fleeing this encounter in their remaining starships, they returned to the embrace of their home. The My’an’tr’si followed. For 25 long years, the Humans and the My’an’tr’si struggled. At long last and at great cost, the Humans pushed the My’an’tr’si back.

We watched as the Intrix defeated a weakened My’an’tr’si. The Intrix then turned to the Humans. The colonies of Humans in other systems emptied as they returned to the Human home world to repel the Intrix.

We watched as the Humans desperately fought the Shnn, the Biatlemat, the G’gndor, the Ssslsss, and others. Then a change occurred, instead of returning home defeated or victorious, fleets entering the Human’s system vanished - never to be heard of again. Other species sent probes and exploratory vessels. The probes fell silent as they crossed into Human space. Lifeboats and escape pods with the crews of the exploratory vessels were returned by sleek, dark ships. The crews only shook their heads when asked of their voyages.

We watched as the Human’s star began to dim. Carefully placed observation platforms peering into Human space from afar sent reports of gigantic structures being constructed. Over time, these structures slowly joined together as the Humans formed their Dyson Sphere. Eventually, the Human star was obscured completely.

We watched as the Humans began to build on a second system. Barren with no intrinsic value, unclaimed. Over time, the star in this system dimmed and then disappeared. Slowly, over the centuries, the Humans spread, ever adding to their growing collection of Dyson Spheres. Always silent as they worked. Sleek, black ships the only sightings as they silently returned errant species who wandered into their space.

We watched as the lifeform from Galaxy 7-897 entered the edge of our

Shipwreck Simulacrum

Visions of the past haunt a half-sunk ship set adrift at sea! Within the ship’s slime-coated carapace, an elder oblex has made its den. It draws in curious adventurers with friendly simulacrums, plotting to feed on their memories. Uncover the mystery of this ship’s demise and discover the secrets of the past brought to life!

Google Doc

Adventure Background

Centuries ago, this merchant ship set sail from a port to which it did not return. The ship was badly damaged in a storm and stranded at sea. The crew died long ago.

In order to save itself from drowning, an elder oblex colonized the ship and fed on the original crew. It is now stranded.

The oblex hunts by drawing in curious seafarers with simulacrums of the original crew, acting as though they’ve been recently stranded and require aid. Once the sailors are trapped within the belly of the ship, the oblex consumes their memories. The oblex hopes to escape this half-sunk ship by boarding another, but has so far been unsuccessful. It is malnourished and weak, but this does not mean it won’t go down without a fight.

Adventure Summary

The adventure begins as a mystery. It is apparent to the PCs that the ship is extremely old, yet unnaturally well preserved. The PCs explore the slimy upper decks of the ship in hopes of understanding its fate and locating their objective. It is here that they meet the first simulacrum, which takes the form of a friendly young sailor. The oblex will do its best to draw the PCs deeper into the ship with simulacrums like these. They act as guides, “saving” the PCs from monsters lurking in the ooze. They offer the PCs a safe place to rest and speak of powerful magical items held as cargo.

As they descend below decks in their continued pursuit of answers, the adventure transitions into a cramped dungeon-crawl punctuated by many opportunities for roleplaying. The PCs brave colonies of intellect devourers, nests of cranium rats, and the strange ooze that fills the lower decks. The PCs have many opportunities to interact with NPCs, most of which are actually simulacrums of the oblex, and find clues that will help them piece together the true nature of the ship. At this point, the oblex will seal off exits and put the most dangerous monsters behind the party, pushing them to delve deeper. If the oblex is confronted or realizes it may be able to cooper

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“Listen, Kathmin,” Rhubul started as they walked across the promenade towards the diner. “I want to tell you something about my friend we’re meeting today.”

“Ok, shoot,” replied Kathmin.

Rhubul continued, “This friend is not a scientist. In fact, I should probably get it out of the way and start with the fact that they’re a Dursk.”

Kathmin stopped walking and stared at Rhubul for a moment. “You’re joking,” he hoped. “How did you get them on the station? Surely security didn’t sanction that!”

“Keep your voice down,” Rhubul shushed as he turned and continued to walk. “Some other new friends intervened with station security to allow limited access for a diplomatic envoy for an afternoon. Officially, access was granted for an unspecified meeting with other diplomats. Unofficially we’re using the conference as cover, and we’re the diplomats.”

“Wow, just…so much to unpack there,” Kathmin sputtered. “We’re diplomats? When did that happen? And what other friends? You don’t have any other friends. I’d have known. There would have been meetings and support groups.”

Rhubul stopped and turned to face Kathmin, his frills tinging just a hint of orange. “I have friends,” Rhubul countered, momentarily distracted by Kathmin’s humor. “Look,” he continued as he recovered, “Measures were taken to avoid any unfortunate incidents, hopefully. I understand this is a lot to process, but I need you to trust me.”

“Oh sure, ‘Hey, Kathmin, let’s go sit across the table from a xenophobic space predator, the only sapient species I can think of that still prefers its food alive!’ He is probably only three standard units tall and outweighs us both, but I’m sure we can take him if he gets hungry,” Kathmin responded sarcastically.

“Kathmin…” Rhubul started.

“No, listen,” Kathmin interrupted, “I’m trained to understand, appreciate and relate to a variety of cultures, and even I think it’s fine that the Dursk want to stay hidden away in their dark little corner of nowhere. Frankly, the more sectors between them and the broader civilized Galactic Union, the better I’ll sleep at night. You know the scene you’ll create if these conference attendees see him, right? And how did you disguise him? Throw a box over him and slap a ‘mobile refrigeration unit’ sticker on it?”

“First, he’s a she

#Respect Drew Lipsky, aka Dr. Drakken

##"You think you're all that, but you're not!"

Drew Theodore P. Lipsky is the arch-nemesis of teen hero Kim Possible. Going by the alias Dr. Drakken, he spends his time coming up with insane schemes to take over the world with the aid of his snarky sidekick Shego. Despite claiming to be an evil genius, he often relies on stealing the technology of others to accomplish his goals instead of inventing or even buying his own due to his incompetence or cheapness.

#Sources

Hover over a feat to view its source.

Television

• Kim Possible (2002) = S#E#
• So the Drama (2005) = StD
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003) season 2 episode 20 = L&S

Video Games

• Disney's Kim Possible: Revenge of Monkey Fist (2002) = RoMF
• Disney's Kim Possible 2: Drakken's Demise (2004) = DD
• Disney's Kim Possible 3: Team Possible (2005) = TP
• Disney's Kim Possible: Kimmunicator (2005) = K

Comics

• Kim Possible Adventures (2019) = Comic

#Intelligence

Engineering

• Claims to have built a ray that allowed him to control rubber products in the 4th grade.
• Built prototypes of the Bebe robots during his college days.
• Builds a robotic tick using another scientist's designs.
• Replicates the Neural Compliance Chip.
• Launches an alien spaceship.
• Builds a sonic annihilator into order to brew the perfect chocolate milk.
• Capable of building an Arctic Weather Device, but struggles getting a VCR to work.
• Gets a bunch of soldiers off a train by bypassing the cooling system to overload the engine.

Planning & Strategy

• Plans a train heist.
• Devises a complicated plan to increase the mosquito population for some greater, undefined purpose.
• Orchestrates a plot even Shego couldn't figure out on her own.
• [Tricks two other villains into stealing Nana Possible's photo albu

Six months ago to the day, right here at this bus-stop, my boyfriend was stabbed, and killed.

There are no vehicles here at this time of night. Even here in the heart of the city. No people, either. The rain is my company, as are the blinking, glowing lights- ever neon- that send out their colors across the road and the glass and the puddles in ethereal washes and waves.

I lift my gaze and look across the street. The rain-soaked road shimmers in shades of yellow, teal, and pink. With flashes of green and orange. Occasional drifting red or blue.

He was mugged. Gave up his phone and wallet, then tried to prevent the guy from doing the same to somebody else. Some young woman. The details aren’t even important, really. I’ve been through them all hundreds and hundreds of times in my head and each time the outcome is the same:

…Tristan taking his final breaths. Rasping as he collapses to the ground and bleeds out over the concrete.

It’s going to happen again right now. I check my watch. In three more seconds. I’m sat at the bus stop and I turn my head to look to the right.

Tristan shimmers into view and my heart pangs dreadfully, as it always does. I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself.

There he is; a watery, shining and silvery being. Translucent. He can’t hear me. He can’t see me. It always starts the same. He’s listening to music. He looks so peaceful here. I wonder what he might be thinking about.

He has a rose in his pocket. He looks down to it and, with his tongue sticking out to one side, cautiously and carefully adjusts it.

My pulse races. This is where the atmosphere changes.

I watch as he looks up in surprise. As he is engaged by the mugger. I can’t see the mugger himself, only Tristan, but the situation is plain on Tristan’s face. And besides, I’ve seen the CCTV. I know how it goes down.

He speaks some silent, voiceless words as the rain falls. As he narrows his eyebrows and regards the mugger with caution, with care, with disdain.

I watch as he is provoked. As he steps to the side and puts out an arm. As he attempts to defend the young woman he is with.

I watch as he holds out his forearms, using them as makeshift shields. As they are slashed by the assailant’s knife.

I see the fear, the determination in Tristan’s ghostly face as he fights, as he struggles to bring down the attacker. As he silently shouts for the woman to get away. A vein bulges in his neck and the knife is forced into his chest. He gasps, and it goes in for

Previous / First

Writer's note: Yes, a Saturday release. Didn't feel like hearing yall bitch about waiting a whole weekend. Plus, I wanted closure on the battle too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he staggered between shacks, tents, and other shoddy structures, James knew that he was running out of time.

That familiar sense of everything "greying out" was beginning to creep up. His legs were slowly beginning to tremble. His reflexes were slowing down. And on top of all that, his head was killing him.

He was only staying on his feet because there was no other option.

He'd emptied two magazines since Veliry had managed to get his weapon of choice back to him. He could usually drop the "people" that he encountered in one or two shots. But the beasts that the camp occupants rode typically took two to four rounds to drop, their size, odd anatomy, and musculature making it hard to hit vital organs apparently. That and James's now faltering aim were making it difficult to proceed.

James leaned against a shack to catch his breath. It was getting harder and harder to breath now. He had to focus for a few minutes, consciously forcing himself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly before starting to move again.

He didn't notice the trail of blood that his shoulder left on the wall as he lifted off of it.

Another Grabber Clan member went running past, desperate to escape the encroaching fire and guardsmen. James didn't even notice him until he was already passing between two other structures. He raised the pistol feebly, then decided it wasn't worth the effort and dropped it back down to his side.

Why did his arm feel so heavy?

He rounded a corner, and finally saw his destination. The stone structure, looking like someone had hollowed out a boulder, stood only fifty or so yards away. To James it looked more like a mile. There were "people" milling about in front of it. It looked like they were looking inside.

He would kill them all.

"I'm coming Amina." He said slowly as he began staggering forward.

A rider came towards him. At first, they seemed to just be running. But when they saw James, they scowled and altered course to head directly at him.

"C'mon bitch." James said under his breath.

James aimed at the rider, but the creature it was riding weaved back and forth,

A few years ago I was on a flight from London to Sydney when an older woman, maybe 70, suddenly collapsed in the aisle. The flight attendants rush over to her and check her pulse, and determine she doesn’t have one, and commence CPR. People are standing up to see what is happening, and a few people start to film.

At this point, the flight crew have brought out a defibrillator and have had to remove the dying woman’s shirt to use it on her. Myself and a few other people tried to stand around them to block the view and give the poor woman some dignity in this horrible moment.

The flight crew are naturally panicking, but remaining professional. One flight attendant is asking people to stop filming, but they don’t. The closest person to me was Karen, and she had her phone moving at all angles to try and get some footage of the poor woman on the floor.

I snatched her phone out of her hands and called her a ‘disrespectful c*nt’, and she instantly started screeching that I had stolen her phone. The flight attendants weren’t paying attention to what she was saying as they clearly had more important things to focus on. She then grabbed a flight attendant who was assisting with first aid by the arm and told them I had stolen her phone. I didn’t want to cause more drama for the poor flight attendant who was so flustered, so I threw her phone down on her seat.

The lady collapsed shortly before we landed so once we had landed we all had to wait on the plane while ambulance crew boarded and commended CPR and eventually took her off the flight. While we were waiting, Karen said

“Can we get off the plane? I want to go home I’ve had a long flight and I’m tired.”

Luckily for me, someone else was sick of her bullshit because they told her to shove her complaints up her ass.

I wish I’d thrown her phone out of the plane if I could’ve.

I wasn’t expecting to spend New Year’s Day sitting in a dentist’s waiting room.

There was nobody to blame but myself. It had been my stupid idea to play blindfolded hide and seek—and as a group of twenty something college students already intoxicated and sharing one braincell between us-- it wasn’t the greatest idea. I’m not going to say it was a bad idea—because if we’d been sober and actually had logic, I’m pretty sure we would have had a blast. My housemate Milla had inherited the house from her crazy rich uncle.

Not quite a mansion—more of half of one. If that makes sense. Located in a quiet student neighbourhood not too far from campus, the house was ancient, the interior modernized for a more 21st century student feel.

It’s cosy and welcoming, rustic décor wrapping every room in the kind of warmth that has always been absent from my family home growing up, each room colourful with brimming personality. There’s something about the house that clicked with me. When you walk in, you know you’re home, from the all-too-familiar stink of burning coming from the kitchen which was Milla trying some new recipe she’d found on Pinterest, and walking upstairs, you would be assaulted with the sound of playful shouting--Fee and Kenji getting unnecessarily heated over Super Smash Bro’s, and if you happened to peek into the lounge, I’d probably be murdering Wonderwall on guitar. I’m not going to tell you how we all ended up in the house. But I will say they’re like my second family.

It almost felt like the house chose us, as stupid as it sounds. Upon the walls were paintings of abstract shapes and random assortments of colour. You know, rich people paintings. There weren’t many rules in the house but we were forbidden from touching the paintings. I could understand that. They were probably worth a lot.

The ground floor of the house was untouched; the flooring an old-fashioned parquet with a blend of deep homely browns, while the walls were different shades of blue complimenting white wallpaper. The banister of the stairs was thick and wooden, its grain flowing as water might—in comforting woodland hues reflecting a glittering chandelier. In this house there are multiple rooms and alcoves and places I haven’t even explored yet.

You would be right in thinking this is the perfect setting for a giant game of hide and seek on New Years Eve.

The first few rounds went as well as you might think, considering we were all wasted before 10PM.

A few of us fell down the s

Chapter One

Lieutenant Erdni Freyanna sat down at her gunnery station on the bridge of the picket ship camouflaged just outside the atmosphere of a planet called ‘Terra'. The Sergeant that she'd relieved had the cameras positioned on a developing situation in the east of a continent called 'Europe', but nearly as soon as she’d left, Erdni was hard at work repositioning the camera to the mountainous regions of the center of Asia.

Being a gunnery officer on a surveillance ship assigned to watch without interfering above a remote world felt like the most boring job on its best days. At its worst, it was utterly mind numbing.

When she’d signed on to the planetary reconnaissance unit, she'd hoped to make first contact with a previously unknown species - or at least meet a cute guy or two.

But of course she couldn’t be that lucky. Instead, her career had positioned her above a backwater world, watching the primitive people that lived there through her cameras. These primates displayed no sign of the technological advances the Galactic Accords required in order to make first contact.

Her one respite from the boring hours was watching the team of human fighters stationed at an outpost in a nation called ‘Tajikistan’. The antics the men got up to as a result of their boredom mirrored her own desires to let loose, but as the third officer on a small starship, she had to maintain decorum.

She couldn’t help but to grow attached to them after watching them win firefight after firefight without so much as scratches. She recalled how she could barely stifle her laughter when she saw their base attacked once upon a time ago.

One of the men burst out of his tent, clad in body armor, and a pair of highly indecent shorts, carrying a massive gun to the wall of the compound. The sight from her cameras was just too funny - how could a race of sexy space hunks like this be so violent!

Her attachment only grew when she witnessed their leader working out on a strange contraption; he repeatedly pushed a metal bar which held three metal disks on each end above his chest. Yet, Terran men were of utterly opposite physiques compared to the men of her own species. Men of her species kept an objectively fragile appearance.

Over the past few weeks since she found the unit, she became privy to the analyses the translators on her screen provided of their conversations over the radio. She was especially attentive to the fighters’ reactions to a small attack on their post and their

The following document was written by Father Maximus Vazquez during the Spanish Inquisition. Tasked with uncovering heretics in Barcelona, Father Maximus became notorious for his cruel treatment of Muslim and Jewish immigrants. By all accounts, his ability to elicit confessions through torture was unmatched in all of Spain.

Only one woman, a Jewish heretic named Talia, mustered the courage to endure his torture chamber.

What follows is Father Vazquez’s horrific response to her bravery.

---

I’m at my wit’s end. I’ve been interrogating the same woman for two weeks, but she still refuses to decry her heresy. How she has endured my pincers and strappado for so long, I do not know. She hasn’t opened her mouth once during her time in my chamber. It’s as if she is unable to feel pain.

A priest with less experience would take her courage as a sign of God’s grace.

But not I.

Her disdain for Catholicism clogs the air and fills her eyes every time she gazes upon the tapestry of the passion draped behind my desk.

So tomorrow, I will put her through my true test: exposure to The Artifact.

It’s been years since I’ve used The Artifact, but I can’t think of a more opportune moment. For who better to expose to the horrors of Hell than such an insolent woman?

I pray that her descent into madness comes slowly. I want to savor her despair—savor the crumbling of her faith.

Tomorrow cannot come soon enough.

---

My hands are shaking as I write this. Not only am I fatigued, but my mind burns with questions.

The heretic’s reaction to The Artifact perplexes me. Never before have I seen such an intense response to the pagan chalice.

Perhaps by relating my experience on this tattered page, I will make sense of what seems unexplainable on the surface.

I entered my chamber just before sunrise to find the heretic asleep in her chains. Her restful face filled me with anger. Burns and lacerations covered her body. That she could endure the inflictions of my instruments—many of which I forged myself—challenged my ability to perform my holy duties. Given that I’m the most revered inquisitor in Spain, I cannot allow peasants to make a mockery of my art.

I must succeed where others fail. My work is God’s work.

To fail means to tarnish God’s glory.

So I approached the heretic on silent feet and lowered The Artifact to her lips.

Her eyes flew open as liquid splashed onto her tongue.

“Spill a drop,” I said, “and I will break your legs.”

Not wanting to test the tru

Let me get straight to the point, I'm a robber, a thief. I do not find any pride in my profession, but a string of circumstances led me down this path. And I, unfortunately, cannot undo any of my previous mistakes. But I'll have to say that I am quite good at what I do.

Though by no means am I a professional, I am just a crook that gets lucky. Sometimes I really think about when that luck will run out. It is not a matter of If, but a matter of when I will get busted. That eventually would happen if It wasn't for a certain gig that went south... way, way down south.

A couple of years back I had a small crew, me, and two other guys. We'll call them Mitch and Fox.

Mitch was a tall guy, not that stealthy, but he made up those downsides with technical skills and his quick thinking. He was quite good at picking locks and avoiding trouble if shit hit the fan. He wasn't much of a talker as I recall, he always went with us whenever we found a good place to rob. What he did with his small fortune, I didn't know, and I couldn't really care less.

Fox on the other hand, as the name implies, was a small and sneaky bastard. He was quite charismatic and a fantastic liar. He could make a story up in bippy if push comes to shove, and a believable one at that. He saved our asses on multiple occasions when we got stopped after a few sloppily done jobs. As for his stealth, he was usually the one to crawl between those tight spaces to sniff the place out before I and Mitch enter. If someone spots him, or he realizes someone is home, he could quickly get out of there. He was quite agile as well, helped a lot as well. Though his spending and bragging almost put him, and us, behind bars once.

Fox was almost always the one who found some gig, or some job, or a nice and rich place to rob. It was out of necessity for him, he spent money like there was no tomorrow, gambled, and chased hookers like a dog chasing females in heat.

And It was with one of his latest "gigs" that my story begins.

He got an offer from some guy, he didn't specify who. It was "confidential" as he said himself. The guy wanted us to enter a place and retrieve an item. A small box, what was in that box he didn't say. The only thing he said to Fox, and he put quite an emphasis on the fact, Do Not Open It.

What would stop us from opening It? Well, It was the money he was willing to pay us. One million... One million bucks for a small wooden box. We would split that money between the three of us.

Of cours

#The New Avengers

>“This is an emergency message from the Avengers. If you’re seeing this, that means we’re dead. But the world will always need heroes. So I put together a failsafe program, in case anything ever happened to us.

>You’re up. We need your help. Each of you has proven yourself as a hero. As someone who has what it takes to be an Avenger. Avengers Mansion, the Quinjets, everything. It’s all yours now.

>The world is depending on you. So go save it.”

Created by Tony Stark as a backup plan in case the original Avengers died, the New Avengers were made up of heroes that had helped the Avengers in the past. The team was assembled to prevent Kang the Conqueror from bringing his future empire to the present day, with each one of them becoming a reserve member of the Avengers after Kang’s defeat.

Scaling

• Kang

#Spider-Man

> “Well, I’m Spider-Man and this is my trusty sidekick Wolverine.”

Physicals

Strength

• Knocked over Rattler and Constrictor by web swinging into them. ^S2E13
• Punched a hole out of a pile of rubble he was buried in, though he couldn’t fully get out of it without Captain America pulling him out. ^S2E13
• Easily ripped off the door of an armoured convoy with one arm and threw it. ^S2E13
• Kicked Anaconda through a wall. ^S2E13
• Knocked Bushmaster over with a kick, then swung him through a wall with a web. ^S2E13
• Broke Bushmaster’s arm off with an elbow drop. ^S2E13
• Easily tore Bushmaster’s other arm off. ^S2E13
• Overpowered Bushmaster after a struggle, throwing him away. ^S2E13
• Held up one end of a beam supporting part of a collapsing subway tunnel. This took all of his strength, and Peter [

Hi fellas. I compiled a list of all hidden Interlude unlocking conditions and decided to share it in a post.

Each Interlude contains one hidden node which has to be unlocked in the combat stages. Sometimes the unlocking requirements span both combat stages, sometimes it's just the 1st or 2nd one. The only general advice I can provide if you want to solve the puzzles on your own is to pay attention to any audiovisual clue. The camera usually pans to points of interest related to unlocking the hidden node once you enter a combat stage. Sometimes it's just a subtle audio or textual clue. Try to interact with anything and follow any hints or clues given in-game.

I will keep updating the post as new Interludes are added. Plume's is still missing as I haven't played her Interlude yet. Helpful Redditors provided instructions in the comments in the meantime.

Lucia: Lotus

Once you reach the 2nd stage, "Lingering Warmth", with a lot of Musashi IX spamming sword waves, the hint tells you to save Luna on the other side of the room. You need to Matrix-dodge between their attacks and reach the door with the special icon. Alternatively, you can turn around and speak to the "Other Lucia" twice to become immune to damage and complete the hidden objective easily.

Lucia: Crimson Abyss ("Alpha")

Keep the allied constructs alive and dispatch the Corrupted asap in the first stage, "Falling". Don't get detected in the 2nd one, "Escape". Roland will be there and detect you if you failed the previous objective.

Lucia: Plume

The hint tells you to find a deeper path in "Twin Blades of Will". Once you play the stage again the hint changes to "endurance is required to reach the final end". You need to finish all four battles with more than 50% health before you reach the final encounter. You fail the hidden objective if "the power of the M.I.N.D. heals you". The 1st and 3rd groups were the most dangerous ones for me, so I switched to Arctic Form on the first group and used a partial Signature move after using some orbs. I switched to Arctic Form on the 2nd encounter but only used orbs. Full Signature move on the third encounter and a combination of Orbs + Signature on the fourth encounter and final fight. You know you succeeded if you fight Plume as the final boss. Good luck.

Liv: Eclipse

Search for a room with a mirror once you obtain the dress in "Collapsed Pride" and interact with it. You'll notice you've succeeded once you engage the final ene

I’m not a weirdo, I was drunk. And until you’ve had the night I had, somehow spam texting the mosque emoji to your girlfriend while shouting, “Tequila and red wine is so a cocktail!”—until you’ve been there, I ask you not to judge.

If you have been there, you’ll know that my girlfriend became my ex-girlfriend that night. You’ll know that neither she nor I are Muslim and that the mosque is in the blurry vicinity of the hospital emoji. You’ll know that Tequila and red wine is not a cocktail. And most importantly, you’ll know that at three in the morning, drunk as Saharan bottled water, sushi is sushi is sushi.

I wouldn’t have remembered any of the gas station or it’s dubious offerings except that I thought I saw the guy who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. I tried to play amateur paparazzo, and I left the video on record after my phone went back in my pocket.

The important folks are me, my friend and roommate Benjamin and a very accommodating cashier that I’m gonna call Leif.

Ben: His hair is white because that’s an old man, you fucking dick.

Me: That’s such a Slytherin thing [I burp] um…to be.

Ben: He’s got a walker!

Me: Nah. Uh-Uhh. No. It’s that’s—he’s a walker on his hands.

Ben: Yes! See! Old man—not Malfoy.

Me: But broom. You’re jealous…

You get the idea. I had forced myself into a subhuman hole of obnoxious intoxication and I had found my AARP wizard bad boy, I was damn certain of that. He was my boozy, tinfoil treasure, my starfucked distraction from the crown jewel of my tire fire evening.

Me: Yes! Sushi!

Ben: Dude, no! Gross! This is an Exxon.

Me: 7-Eleven has good Sushi, man.

Ben: One-hundred percent, it doesn’t. And this is a goddamn Exxon station.

I picked it up.

Now, in hindsight, I understand Ben’s consternation. He was being a friend. I was repaying him by being that intolerable child at the grocery store whose parents quietly pretend is a ward of the produce aisle. Not a great look. Of course, I had zero capacity for that sort of self reflection in the moment, so I soldiered on with my dream of eating and not getting botulism.

The packaging was simple:

Sushi Connection

HAPPY CHASE ROLL

I found it later on in my apartment and that’s all it said. No ingredients, no graphics, no barcode. Just black plastic, clear plastic and a sharpied stick-on label. But I wasn’t some deputized food inspector, I was drunk. And hungry.

Ben: It’s not eve

Cover || First

Previously

Story Discord (expires in 7 days)

O-O-O

AN: Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it)! This ain't particularly Christmassy, but I hope you guys will enjoy this gift from me to you all. Have a great day today, and take care of yourselves.

O-O-O

1550, 29 January 2253, GHSS George Hearst, TMT (21 weeks to arrival)

Matt sighed as his character flew off the screen before exploding. A bassy voice announced, “Winner: Player Two.” He gently set down Lian’s controller and laced his fingers behind his head. Ana, Lian, Sean and he had been playing video games for the past half hour. They’d been a great distraction from the shitstorm that was probably going on back home. He sighed. “Man, this is really not the best game.”

Sean laughed at him and quipped, “On the contrary, this is fantastic! This is the first game where you and Ana haven’t immediately wiped the floor with us normals.”

Matt groaned and asked, “Can we go back to something I have a chance on?”

Ana reached for the table in front of him and said, “Give me that controller, Matt. I’ll defend your honor.” Lian giggled at the comment as he picked up the controller.

Sean looked at Matt’s tablet as it chimed again. He chuckled and asked, “When did you get so popular?”

Matt sighed as his mood fell. “Popular isn’t the word I’d use.” He shook his head and frowned. “I told my parents about Ana and I...let’s just say they’re not taking it well. They told the rest of my family.”

Sean’s jovial expression fell immediately, “Oh. What’s the damage?”

Matt frowned as he looked at the tablet. He exhaled and muttered, “Well, let’s find out.” Matt picked up his tablet and unlocked it, reading the newest message. The slur bit into his mind as he read it. “Fucking...wow. That’s...awful.” Matt took a deep breath and read off, “From my aunt: ‘I’m ashamed to be related to a...zookeeper like you. Don’t feel obligated to visit my house ever again, and don’t bring that woman with you.’ Shit.” Matt dropped the tablet into his lap and closed his eyes as tears began to form.

Ana grabbed the tablet and muttered, “What the fuck?” Ana growled, “I will kick her ass. No one talks about you like that, and they sure don’t talk about me like I’m not a fucking person.” She scrolled through

Like it says in the title, in Warhawk we finally get large doses of Sigismund kicking ass and being awesome during the siege so here's a somewhat all-inclusive list of many of the moments of him being awesome we get. I'm sure some of these parts have probably already been posted but I just wanted to make a big post with all of Sigi's awesomeness. I've included which chapters each part is from to give an easier idea of how far in the book each one is and make it easier for you to find those parts if you wanted too.

Sorry in advance for the wall of text

Chapter Three - The leash comes off

So he searched, as Rogal Dorn always did, for something to do, some way to fight back. The klaxons were going off around him, wild and loud. Men and women were running, their discipline failing. They were trying to shut down the plasma reserves in the foundation interiors, drain them, prevent the penetration cascades that would critically weaken the Mercury Wall’s substructure. Even as they ran, shouting, tripping over one another, the Titans were there – unwrapping their drills and energy-hammers, powering up forbidden drive-weapons augmented with daemon-essences, clawing, scraping down the outer skin like rats.

‘My lord!’

And then, hearing that voice, he remembered. He had already acted. Typical Rogal Dorn, anticipating his own momentary weakness, he had already put the necessary move in place. He had summoned Sigismund here, to Shard Bastion, to speak to him in person, to give him the command, because he could never falter in front of his son, not this son. He turned, just for a moment, away from the confusion of the command station, and faced him. Sigismund wore the black of the Templar Brethren. He had come up to the command level with others of his order, a dozen, and they all looked as grim as one another – fatalistic, hammered into a kind of permanent, shell-shocked fury.

Sigismund’s own expression was wary. He had reason for that – Dorn had run him hard, borne down on him, bathed him in disapproval, ever since Isstvan. The reasons had been sound. Neither of them could have expected any less, given the codes of honour that made them who they were, and Sigismund had never complained. But there had always been something else, under all that – not quite a test, but maybe a tempering, like that of the best blades. To see if the steel could withstand the fire, be more hard-wearing for it.

‘This is the e

1-Energy; (Laser, Plasma, Electric, Pulse, Rad, Fusion, Sonic)

2-Magnetic; (Coil, Gauss, Rail,)

3-Kinetic; (Rockets, Bullets, Bolters, Needlers, Missiles)

4-Chemical; (Burner, Corroder, Freezer, Venom Smoke bombs)

5-Anti-Matter; (Dark Matter, Unknown Matter, Anti-matter, Matter converter)

6-Particle; (Sub atomic, atomic, Macro Atomic)

7- Biological (bacterias, viruses, fungal infections for humans and crops)

8- Climatic (Heating or cooling the planet, making atmosphere more open for space radiation)

9- Ecological (introducing invasive species, introduction of new genes into populations, eliminating certain elements of ecosystems for its destruction)

10- Cybernetic (computer viruses, equipment to translate malware signals, aiming and evading algorithms, battle-assistant algorithm)

11- Hyperkinetic - high speed objects delivered from off-world: dumb rock, rock with guidance package attached, guided armour-piercing lance

12- Self-propelled explosive munitions - from gyroc bullets to rockets to missiles

13- Nanotechnological (Killer nanobot cloud, Crawling grey goo, Brain-controlling nano-bots)

14- Time/space-altering (Event-changing machine, Space-collapsing bomb, Time-slower)

15- Physiological (Agonizer, brown note, nerve induction, vertigo inducing)

16- Mental (Hallucinations, fear, confusion)

17- Mad science (evolution/devolution, transmogrification) https://blakes7.fandom.com/wiki/IMIPAK

18- Blades; (chainsaw blade, electrified, energy blade, force field blade, heated, mono-molecular edge, vibro blade)

19- Combat Robots; (limited AI, VR controlled)

20- Drones + armament; (blades, bombs, gas, guns)

21- Explosive Weapons; (bombs, IEDs, grenades, limpet mines, mines, missiles, rockets, torpedoes) + (antimatter, concussion, EMP, entangling goo, explosive, fire extinguishing foam, fission, flash bang, fragmentation, fusion, incendiary, gas, micro-black hole, nanite dispersal, plasma, shield disruptors, smoke)

22- Gravitic Rail Gun

23- Mecha

24- Portal Weapons; (portal, rift)

25- Powered Armor

26- Stunners; (electric, neural disruptor, sonic)

27- Scale; (personal weapons, anti-vehicular weapons, anti-ship weapons, anti-capital ship weapons, city destroyers, planet destroyers, star destroyers)

28- Transporters set to disperse the target rather than rebuild it

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

Another chapter from u/eruwenn and myself.

First / Prev / Next

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Toby’s words were unfortunately proven extremely accurate, as the next day was a real son of a bitch. No meagre rations were presented to help start her day. Instead, she woke at an unknown hour to the sound of her cell door bursting open, and she was liberally hosed down with ice cold water. Then her frozen body was beaten, and dragged from her cell. It was a generous helping of pain and suffering, and things did not improve from there.

After hours of torture, Chrissy found herself with her arms tied above her head, shoulders straining to hold her body weight. Her feet were shackled to the ground below to make sure she didn't move away, but she could only brush the floor with her tiptoes. She couldn't stand to relieve the pressure on her arms, so how was she expected to make a move? Her brain had long since shut out the agony from her straining muscles, and she looked dully at the way her ruined uniform lay scattered across the floor nearby. She didn't even have the energy to feel thankful that her underwear remained on her.

The blood that scattered over nearby surfaces was her own. A lock of her long blonde curls hung in front of her face, matted and stained red, and she knew the rest of her hair looked similar. A warm trail of blood dripped down her bare legs from a fresh cut in her abdomen, and she looked over to where Toby was strapped to a chair.

He was staring at her, looking incredibly pale yet still defiant. The Erinal was in much worst shape than her, as not only was his species much weaker to begin with but they tired quickly without their high calorie diets. She tried to smile at him, but found she couldn't muster one.

“Save your strength, they’ll be back soon,” the chained counter-intel officer insisted. “You’ve done amazing. I’m proud of you, Blue Eyes.”

She struggled to answer, her throat hoarse from the screams they had eventually torn from her. She had tried so very hard not to give them the satisfaction, but they had broken her silence. The one thing she had held back, that she had refused to do no matter what, was to beg Toby to answer them and spare

[first] [prev] [next]

Crouched down behind a burning android tank, Vuxten watched his heat and slush drop. The last push had gotten within a hundred meters of the parking lot before it had been driven back by the combined firepower of Vuxten, Casey, and Daxin.

Trucker had ordered Casey to put high-ex into the buildings across the street to demolish them. While it left huge mounds of debris with plenty of cover, it eliminated the buildings themselves as cover and concealment.

--hot hot hot-- 471 said, ordering up another mini thermal core from his own nanoforge. Vuxten's was too hot and overslushed to produce thermal cores that weren't seventy-five percent thermal loaded.

"Do what you can," Vuxten answered. He checked the heat on the magac rifle he'd been firing, noting that the coils at the end had discolored slightly. "Trucker, I'm overslushed and overheated," Vuxten sent across the tightbeam command channel.

"Hold position. Moving assets to you," Trucker said back, his voice a strange combination of distant and intent.

"Roger," Vuxten said.

He looked over to where Daxin was standing out in the open in the middle of the parking lot.

The asphalt around him was bubbling and steaming, his boots sunk a good three inches into the melted tarmac. The battlescreens projected by his armor were glimmering, rippling energy intercepting high-v magac rounds, causing small explosions of sparks. Nearly twenty paces away FIDO was bouncing across the tarmac, the mortars by his hind legs popping off rounds every five seconds.

Daxin had his SMG held tight in one hand, the other hand resting on top of it, controlling it as the big Terran snapped out quick bursts, shifting aim rapidly. Vuxten could see every burst took an android in the chest, scooping it out like shucking an oyster. The android, without exception, collapsed, the chest nothing more than sparking electronics and destroyed synthetic organs.

Vuxten knew he had not moved in nearly ten minutes, drawing firepower from the androids.

Casey took three steps forward, braced himself, and fired the big cannon. The retort was an ear shattering sonic boom that vibrated Vuxten's suit over two hundred paces away. A bright line connected the cannon with

The evidence uncovered from my research leads me to understand that the whole UFO phenomenon is kept secret primarily not because of the "ET" aspect of it, - although that does scare some people out of their mind, but mainly because of the ramifications which would inevitably cause the current economic and geopolitical structure to collapse; A collapse which is inevitable due to the consequences of the technology related to sustenance, energy and travel.

...

It has been said that Eisenhower rebuked the "Pleideans" offer for world peace and abundance because it would "destroy the economy".

I cite the rumors of the meeting at Edwards AFB, fueled by Astronaut Gordon Cooper's many statements of actually being there and filming one such "arrival". “Gordon Cooper also stood by his belief that he saw a UFO land at Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1957. Although Cooper had been filming the base with a camera crew at the time, the film, which he handed over to a high-ranking officer from Washington, has never emerged.

“[SOURCE: Space.com; “Gordon Cooper: No Mercury UFO” by Robert Scott Martin Staff Writer posted: 06:37 pm ET 10 September 1999] There are numerous other sources from Astronaut Cooper with these claims easily found if you care to search for them.

There is more evidence to that alleged meeting with President Eisenhower. Henry McElroy, Jr. a former State Representative from New Hampshire stated soon after his retirement, “The document I saw was an official brief to President Eisenhower. To the best of my memory this brief was pervaded with a sense of hope, and it informed President Eisenhower of the continued presence of extraterrestrial beings here in the United States of America.

The brief seemed to indicate that a meeting between the President and some of these visitors could be arranged as appropriate if desired...The tone of the brief indicated to me that there was no need for concern, since these visitors were in no way, causing any harm, or had any intentions, whatsoever, of causing any disruption then, or in the future... While I can’t verify the times or places or that any meeting or meetings occurred directly between Eisenhower and these visitors – - because of his optimism in his farewell address in 1961, I personally believe that Eisenhower did, indeed, meet with these extraterrestrial, off world astronauts.”

You can see Representative McElroy making these statements here: [SOURCE: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrK2

Do your worst!