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Dear YCM Community Members, Destitution does not arrive at our doorstep without warning. It is the culmination of a slowly beaten drum. Today, we on these very forums count the days that YCMaker has dared to abstain from implementing updates; tomorrow, we will live in a constant state of wait, never truly enjoying the fruits of his coding because of the anticipation we let to consume us. When I was a passionate card creator, I awoke each day overflowing with excitement, not about what new feature, what new interface, what new shiny effects might be unveiled— what pulled me out of bed each day was envisioning the cards I would create. The captions, the artwork, the attack-to-defense ratios and wondrous titles were so dreamy that when I awoke I often had to change my sheets. Today we count the days. In my day, we got lost in the hours. Tyranny does not just arrive at our doorstep without our complacency. Neither does the yugiohcardmaker disappear without our complicity. If we continue down the currently trodden path, we risk everything. I ask the yugiohcardmaker community— what is it that we value: facile novelty, or our fundamental craft? I already know in my heart that our community knows the answer to this question. Your deputy, Falling pizza

It was not every day that a person expressed genuine curiosity at Quinn’s condition, and Quinn took full advantage of Briget’s invitation. He told Bridget about its abduction, how xe was found dead on Mount Coronet, and how only a spirit and Cassiopeia remained. Even when a shorts-wearing Youngster ran up and demanded Quinn battle his brand-new Starly, Quinn’s focus was still mostly focused on her new companion. It was a good thing Normandie was used to fending for herself. “It does not affect my usual day-to-day activities as much as you would expect. I still walk along the material plane. I still consume food for nutrients, although, of course, more spiritual fare is preferred. Oh, use Tackle!” Quinn called out. Normandie hissed and charged right at the Starly, who flapped its wings in an attempt to escape, but by the time it was airborne, it had extra Ratffian weight keeping it down, and the two tumbled to the ground in a pile. Quinn continued, “Perhaps the part that is most odd to me is the occasional reaction I get. People identify me as strange, which is understandable, but when I explain my situation, it only seems to amplify their assessment. I do not see anything strange about it. You said it yourself. Ghost-type Pokemon exist. Can Human ghosts not also exist?” Bridget nodded. “You’ve got a really good point! Tho’, ‘sides yourself, all I’ve ‘eard of ghosts is just rumors. Bet everyone’ll fink this’s just hearsay too when I go back an’ tell ‘em about you.” “I understand,” Quinn said, returning Bridget’s nod. “I do not have a way to prove myself, but I do not have a particular desire for one either. Tail Whip, Normandie, let us make this next hit count!” Normandie was in the middle of dodging the Starly's counterattack but as she ran around the field of battle, she did manage a few cracks with her tail as requested. Quinn said, “Thankfully, I do have other things outside of being a full-time ghost. I have my art. I have this journey.” They broke zir attention completely away from the battlefield and stared at Bridget directly. “What are you besides a Pokémon Professor to-be?” It took a moment for Bridget to respond with anything more than “Hmm, difficult question, that.” She watched the two Pokémon battle even when Quinn did not. She came up with the answer: “A gym battle fan, I suppose. Dunno how the rest of the world handles ‘em, but in Galar they're a big deal. I’d even bet I’m one of the top fans of my hometown’s gym leader.” Quinn widened hir eyes. “Oh, your town has a gymnasium as well? Everyone in Eterna City knows the movements of our gymnasium leader, Gardenia. She is surely the city’s foremost celebrity. Even those who do not follow League movements know Gardenia. And why should they not? Everybody sees the influx of fresh young upstarts. We all want to succeed.” Quinn felt herself get a little melancholy, but ey pressed on anyway. “I want to succeed. What I did not have the opportunity for in life…” But the moment passed quickly. Quinn whipped back around to the battle. The Youngster seemed annoyed and was recalling his Pokémon, but Quinn put a stop to that. “Now, Normandie! Pursuit!” It was amazing how fast the Ratffian could run when she needed to, glowing with that purple aura as she raced forward to catch the Starly before it could fully retreat into its ball, a snarl so loud that even Quinn had to flinch. But Normandie did let up as soon as all could confirm the Starly had fainted. Quinn was glad for that, at least. “Well done, Normandie!” Quinn said, digging through faer bag. “Come get your reward!” The Youngster pouted. “It’s not as fun when you’re just battling a Pokémon. I wanted to banter too,” he said. Only then did Quinn realize just what he had done. “Oh! I apologize. Here, if you go and heal up your Starly we can go again if you like.” The Youngster wanted to sulk instead. Quinn forewent taking any money from the boy, though. It was the least ze could do. All Quinn could do after that was wish the Youngster luck on finding an opponent who would better respect his time and effort. Yet still, Quinn was happy for the victory. E turned back to Bridget, a smile escaping their lips despite her best efforts. “I think it is time for me to go looking for more Pokémon,” Quinn said. They pointed at the statue off in the distance. “I am going to go this way and see what I can find.”

It was an early morning in the extended stay inn at the outskirts of Erie Pennsylvania. The sun had not yet risen, but the room’s occupant had. Gwendolyn Hawthorne was shadow boxing in the corner of the cramped room, bouncing back and forth on her toes. Just a light workout to get her blood pumping before she started her day. After a few minutes fighting enemies that weren’t there, Gwen removed her weighted gloves and moved on to a set of push-ups, squats, and upside down crunches hanging from a pull-up bar she had wedged in the bathroom doorway. 250 jumping jacks later, she stripped out of her workout clothes and plunger herself into the cramped hotel bathroom tub that she had filled with ice water. The cold nearly sent her into shock, but she stifled a shiver as she felt her blood vessels contract and her heart rate slow down. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was familiar, which was comfortable. Gwen sat in the water perfectly still, meditating for the day ahead of her. Her meditation only lasted ten minutes, before the alarm on her phone went off, signaling to her that she had spent long enough freezing her ass off. Tying up her hair in a bun so that she wouldn't have to worry about it drying, Gwen quickly toweled herself down, slipping into a comfortable but form-fitting t-shirt, cargo pants, and tightly-laced outdoor boots. Slipping on a cheap hoodie, she grabbed her duffle bag and was out the door. |→ - ←—→ - ←—→ - ←| The car Gwen had parked was an old beat-up Subaru Outback, model year 1997. Or was it ‘95? The important part was that this tin can was a survivor, and as the Ontario license plate showed, it had lasted Gwen for quite a distance. Gwen tossed her bag into the fashionably spacious trunk, and after only a few tries, she managed to get the engine started. She adjusted the overhead mirror to look herself in the eye, admittedly a bit dramatically. “You got this. Regular Tuesday morning for a high-caliber sorcerer like yourself.” |→ - ←—→ - ←—→ - ←| Some distance outside of Erie, a lone girl walked down a Pennsylvania backroad. She’d done a lot of that since taking off on her own quest, the more she thought about it. Walking. Down backroads, across sprawling urban landscapes, into the middle of the woods, through mud and snow - sometimes both at the same time - in sun, wind, rain, or otherwise. If there was one constant, it was walking. Which was fine by her. It was good for her, and this kind of walking - down the highway with no distractions of civilization, yet a literal paved path to her objective - was her favorite. Still, the trek up here had been nothing if not long and arduous, and Kiara was at this specific time getting a bit tired of walking. It wasn’t long before the beat-up station wagon pulled up beside the girl. Leaning over, Gwen laboriously cranked down the passenger window, poking her head out, “Need a lift into town? I’ve got somewhere to be but I could spare a bit of time.” “If you’re offering.” Kiara opened the back door of the beat-up station wagon for just a moment to toss the large backpack slung over her back into the car, before getting in at the front and situating herself in the passenger seat. Gesturing down the road, she simply left it at “Thanks for the lift. I've got something to do out of town, so I'll just tell you where to drop me off.” “Looks like we're headed the same direction. Just let me know when to pull over.” After a few tries, Gwen managed to get the engine going again, and after peeling out a bit in the roadside gravel, the two were off. “So where ya goin’? Visiting friends?” “Job interview. Got a bit of an NDA though, so I can't say more than that.” “Mysterious! Funny thing though, I've got an interview later as well. Nothing interesting though, 007.” “Well, fancy that. Here's hoping we're both employed by tonight.” Gwen scoffed, driving with a knee for a second as she brushed a few stray bangs away from her eyes, “What's the matter? Not a fan of bumming rides off of interesting strangers?” “I just need the money.” Kiara cast a quick glance into the rearview mirror, and at the road ahead. “Didn't think they had this much nothing up north, to be honest.” “Trust me, the further north you go the more nothing you find.” The car slowed down, as Gwen read a road sign. She sped back up, clearly not having found what she was hoping for. “You know, they say hitchhiking is pretty dangerous. I could be one of those murderer cannibals you see on YouTube.” “They say picking up hitchhikers is also pretty dangerous. For all you know, I'm an escaped convict with a rap sheet a mile long.” “That's more what I’m expecting from the rest of my day.” Gwen pulled over indicating with her hand toward an off-road, “that’s my turn, hopefully you can find another person so cheerful for your next stretch. Good luck on that interview.” Kiara stared down the off-road. No doubt about it, that was the right way. “...that’s my turn, too.” Her gaze then moved over to the driver who so generously picked her up off the road. “One of us may have some explaining to do.” “No foolin’?” With a little smirk, Gwen pulled back onto the road, immediately taking the turn, “So are you a strong one, or a weak one?” Reciprocating the smirk, Kiara leaned back some in her seat. “I was taught not to brag about that sort of thing, but strong, definitely. You?” “Oh no no, I’m super weak. Lucky to have lived this long, really.” “Hopefully they don't throw you out on your ass, then.” “Wouldn’t be too bad, with this beauty,” Gwen gave her dashboard a few slaps, “she's pretty cozy, all things considered…” The two girls went for the remaining 20 or so minutes of the drive without exchanging words, but Gwen stole every glance she could at her passenger, trying her best to gauge what the girl might be really capable of. A strong one, huh? When Gwen arrived at their destination, she pulled up in front of the entrance, like a parent on the first day of school. “Shit, I never got your name, 007.” As Kiara got out of her seat, and grabbed her bag out of the back of the car, she responded, “Kiara. And I never got yours, either.” “Gwen. Good luck Kiara, not that it seems you need it.” “Same to you.” With a sigh, Gwen drove away from the supposedly strong hitchhiker, finding a parking spot well out of the way so her prized auto wouldn’t get scratched by anyone trying to park too close. Grabbing the duffle bag from the trunk, she slung it over her back and jogged up to the building. Bursting through the doors with a fierce grin, she spoke loudly enough to deliberately draw attention to herself, “So, do we just line up at one of those Test Your Strength carnival games to see who’s special grade and who’s getting neuralyzed, or what?”

There's only one choice \ Sparkle

Lynx

the video's back up on youtube again so let's try this again

With the next stop being a "boxing ring," Fen looked around to see that as far as things that she had seen thus far this one actually had a little of familiarity to her. Combat sports weren't exactly uncommon where she was from, though this specific one seemed to be entirely about punching one another only and having to face off in a rather small arena. While the girl was looking at each of the people currently fighting, trying to understand just a bit better any other rules of the sport, a large muscular individual had promptly entered her field of view. The girl looked him up and down as he explained who he was and examined his body as per his invitation to do so to see that he was in fairly good shape overall, figuring that he was both a regular here and perhaps a sporty individual in general. But raising her hand to wave off his earlier comment the girl said, "oh, um, well that's quite a kind offer, I think. But no, I'm here to um," Fen looked towards Kelsey saying, "box? Was it?" Adonis followed her gaze and when he saw Kelsey, "Gah!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I, uh, did not see you there!" Kelsey ignored him and responded directly to Fen, "Yup that's the plan. Maybe I should show you how it's done with that punching ba- that guy over there?" She said, indicating Adonis. Putting her hand to her chin the girl said, "oh well, I do learn well by watching first, so if you'd be so kind to." Fen looked over and innocently smiled to Adonis saying, "and then maybe we can box too after." Adonis coughed awkwardly. "Ah well that, you see. My, uh, my hip! My hip has been acting up and I wouldn't want to step into the ring without showing my best..." "Oh that won't be a problem this won't last long enough for that to matter." Kelsey said in a falsely sweet voice before grabbing Adonis and half-dragging him to the ring. Fen marveled at first at Kelsey's display of skill, her technique and sheer power behind her fists with each strike she made. She then started to wince a bit as the fight continued and a look of growing concern crossed her face as the fight continued. Yet all the same with the match finished between the two, Fen looked thoughtfully about what she had just saw and nodded to herself. "I see, so that's how it's done. I think I have a good grasp on the rules now. Oh and um, well I knew you were strong but I didn't realize how good, er well, skilled at punching you were." Looking at Adonis she asked, "is he um, alright for more though? I didn't realize a person's arm could bend in that way when taking a punch." "Oh him? Yeah I'm sure it's fine! He isn't good for much but he sure can take a beating." Kelsey answered for him as Adonis seemed to be dazed still. Her expression was still a bit concerned about the well being of her opponent yet decided to still trust Kelsey's words. "If you say so. Well, um, if you don't mind." Getting into the ring and putting on a pair of gloves herself the girl said, "well, um, whenever you're ready, Adonis." Once Kelsey left the ring life seemed to return to the man as Adonis refocused. Seeing it was not just Fen in the ring he cleared his throat and stood taller. "Ah, so it's you now! Well I'll have you know I was taking it easy to let you learn! But now that you have I suppose you won't mind if I take this seriously right?" "Oh, please, go ahead. I know I may be knew to this but the last thing I'd want is, well, for you to take it easy on me." Shifting her feet, posture and arms into a stance similar to what Kelsey had just had she said, "so um, uh, put 'em up?" "Forgive me if this hurts too much, feel free to cry if you must!" He then ran forward to take a heavy swing. Seeing the man take the initiative to attack, Fen realized how one sided the match against Kelsey and Adonis had been as she didn't actually know what was allowed for defense. Given his large musculature the girl didn't really want to attempt blocking the attack, and instead opted to duck under the swing, striking him in the gut with a swift jab. Backing off, not hearing anyone complain about what she had done she thus inferred that dodging was legal in this sport. Still, the girl remembered her friend's form and strikes and seemed dissatisfied with her own. She was never much of an unarmed fighter to begin with so all the technical aspects of it weren't ingrained in her body, and so she could do was keep improving. Each time Adonis went in for a swing Fen would dodge the punch, either by ducking, or stepping back or to the side, before going in for yet another punch of her own. And each time she did she would mumble something to herself, before trying to shift around her footing or the positioning of her arms. The fight didn't last very long and Fen had gotten through it without too much difficulty, her opponent being KO'd for the second time in a short time frame. Taking a deep breath, getting herself out of her combat focus, the girl gave a bow to Adonis. "Thank you for the match." Then looking over to Kelsey she smiled saying, "that was pretty fun."

It took Carmen a moment to realize that she hadn't just looped back into the previous room. Only when Brian mentioned the time did she look at her own phone again. She had used it as evidence to figure out that she was in some kind of fake room but she didn't even realize how long the whole thing had gone on for. It was at this moment that Brian started taking a step towards her and the girl's instinctive response was to back away, though on the floor she could only hope to shuffle her position without moving very far. As the man reached down and grabbed for her hand, the girl's terror that the monster was coming for her again was soon abated as she realized he was just dragging her through the building. With the man's forceful nature pushing the both of them forward the girl let out a sigh of relief, knowing that if he were a fake he would've asked anything about her well being or need to take a break first. Wordlessly following along, the girl's silence was only broken with a small, "geh," in surprise as she saw Shiki. As it turned out her night wasn't over yet, though that was clear enough from how the last mission she and Brian had been on ended. As Shiki introduced themselves, Carmen's eyes widened as she pointed to herself saying loudly, "I- I'm Carmen!" She looked back and forth between Shiki and Brian as if too say, "you have to believe me," before her attention turned to the burgers. The girl's face lit up with excitement at the sight of the fast food, only to then drop and blink several times. She was positive she had just mentioned McDonalds not a moment ago...the girl looked back towards the driver's seat, before looking back to the burgers. Oh well, it was free food. The girl's hunger was enough to at least keep her paranoia from getting in the way, as she grabbed a burger and began to eat. After a brief period of choking, having eaten her first burger at an alarming speed, the girl looked back to the driver's seat and said, "u-um...thanks...." After a moment longer the girl then asked, "do you uh, think it was a ghost or demon?" To the both of them.

All the Aeons come up to you offering to give you the power of their path. You don't know how the power will manifest or what will happen once you accept what do you do?

wtf i didn't have to bump it myself what is this anyway it's kinda tough because the paths are sorta intentionally extremes in a way. Like Destruction there's some stuff there that actually fits but obviously I don't want to break everything. Honestly it's probably somewhere between Nihility and Preservation even though that feels almost at odds. It's actually Voracity because I always hunger 138

Walking up the road, not paying any heed to the conversation the two of her teammates were having Jacklyn said, "oh there you guys are. You'll never believe this! There was some guy with a cool looking mask just now. I wonder if he's also an adventurer?" Before she could get her answer though Jacklyn's eyes immediately shifted to the statue in the center, "Whoa! What the heck is that?" The girl walked on the path, curiously eyeing the statue before walking into the marsh proper. The girl seemed to be bothered by her shoes sinking into the mud at first, disliking how much harder it made it to walk, but shrugged and persevered without much worry. Up close and looking at the statue, the girl couldn't help but feel this strange sensation in her head as she tried to figure out just what it was supposed to be. It certainly wasn't a person but if it was supposed to resemble a pokemon she didn't have the faintest idea of which one it would be. It didn't help that she was developing a growing headache, of all the luck, making it harder to figure out anything about it. Furrowing her brow in annoyance, closing her eyes as she put a hand to her chin the girl opened them back up as she thought of something. She then looked back at her map and raised an eyebrow. "Why is there even a statue here?" Jacklyn had grown up in a big city and as such she was very familiar with statues being every which way. She didn't know the purpose of most of them but she generally thought they served some kind of symbol beyond just decoration, or they were some rich person's very expensive decoration for the whole city to see. Not to mention, even the older ones, she still had some idea of what they were trying to depict. Perhaps this was what lead to this sudden insight, though the girl didn't really have anything else to offer. Looking back to the rest of the group with a smile on her face she said, "someone take a picture. After all, this is our first major landmark on our journey, so we gotta capture it in a photo right?" The girl winced as her head still hurt, growing a little impatient though her adventurer's spirit still burned brightly. "Oh, I'll take one for you guys if you want too!"

Brian didn’t do anything to the new Carmen that appeared in front of him -- she just fell over on her own. There was a part of him that wondered if he was supposed to test this new person in front of him, like, get her to say something that only the real Carmen would know or whatever, but two things stopped him. The first was he didn’t want to get too paranoid. A password just set the point of failure back a bit. Who was to say what someone could and couldn’t figure out? And if he went down that road, well, then he’d just be back where he started. The second reason, though, and the more important one in his eyes, was there was no way something trying to copy Carmen could ever be as dopey as the real thing. The fake Carmen had tried, but it had to give up the ghost eventually. His phone buzzed. Brian’s first reaction to the news was, “Holy shit, we spent how long trapped in there?” But he didn’t want to think about it, so he just let the expression hang in the air while he read the notification. “Yeah, okay, we’re done.” He grabbed the box of seals and a flashlight in one hand and offered the other hand out to Carmen. Unless she picked herself up, Brian dragged her along out of the building. It was relieving to see Shiki, if only because it meant he didn’t have to drive this time, especially this late at night. Becoming aware of the time made Brian’s brain realize how tired it was supposed to be, even with a sleep schedule as weird as his was. That inner paranoia bubbled up again in a “How could he be sure anything was real anymore?” sort of way, but Shiki seemed to know exactly what Brian was thinking. “We ARE Shiki,” they said. In fairness, Brian thought, nothing could be as weird as Shiki was for the same reason nothing would ever be able to replicate Carmen. But he didn’t let that get in the way of a good snark. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess,” Brian said. “Had to deal with a worse version of Carmen that I think was about to eat me, but the seals are still working, so I guess that’s good. Do we have to go apologize to this ghost too? Oh thank god, you got McDonald’s.” Not that he was a particular fan of hamburgers -- there was a reason he took Carmen to tacos the night they’d met -- but just as he had only just now realized how tired he was, the missing hours had not negated his growing hunger. He snatched the top burger in the stack and unwrapped it messily. He grimaced after one bite. “Get them without pickles next time,” Brian said, but he kept eating.

you right I did open it and i'd fuckin do it again

So as for the "we'll be interacting with AI bots" thing...unlikely. Even if a bot gets so close to human speech as you're worried there will always be things it can't do. Plus even if bots become more frequent on social networks then people will simply move on. And once that happens the people in control will realize "oh I'm not making money actually" and it'll get cracked down on. AI can't take over because once it has "taken over" then the bigwigs on their golden thrones will notice their precious numbers decreasing and they can't have that. AI is self-defeating. Which brings me to humanity.... Do you know what would most likely make an "AI Takeover" possible? Freaking out too much about it. The more people panic the more people will start to think that it's pointless to make things ourselves. I see plenty of artists wanting to give up because of AI but the thing is....actual art usually gets more praise than AI regardless. Same for music and so on. As long as there are people willing to keep creating and to do things without AI it can never take over and will eventually turn into a niche fad that people wave off. Companies will start to lose money as less people are awed by the "cool new tech". Speak up about how AI creations suck and you don't want to pay for it sure but there's no reason to dive down into pessimism. And now to be cheesy here's one of my favorite quotes. “I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.” - Monty Oum

So I got curious and decided to give this a looksee. I'm not gonna watch a 30-minute youtube video just to reply to a forum post because there's no topic on or beyond this earth that I'm that invested in, but from what I gathered reading your post on the matter... Seems kinda silly, don't it? Much as I'd love to make a nice beefy post about this, I know I'm not gonna be able to do so without going into several sidenotes that have nothing to do with the matter at hand, so I'll keep this nice & concise. The notion that we'll be mostly interacting with AI in the future is frankly absurd. We are social primates after all, and if a robot that can mimic language is all it takes to change that, we would have fallen apart as a society long ago. I want to say AI used for creative purposes will ultimately end up as a fad - albeit one that stays in the spotlight a fair bit longer than it should, much like NFTs did - but it's just as likely they become a long-term problem like the many -isms and -phobias out there. The future is, after all, infamously unpredictable, and I'm not one to speculate on real-life unknowns like that. I don't really have a satisfying bow to tie this post off with so uh... yeah.

Though she on her last legs, unsure of how she was going to deal with the now transformed Lucas, she was glad to see that Lindow had at least managed to defeat his werewolf. As he regrouped with the Chosen, he began to heal her and handed her a healing potion to which she immediately used on herself. Her arm was feeling better now, though she still didn't think it could take too many direct attacks before giving out again, and her breath was steadying as her vision started to normalize as well. Though she was in much better shape then she was a moment ago, with Keres attending to both Madelyn and Reinaan at present it was down to her, Lindow, Cym and Pan. Ryia did not have any idea on how to approach this man, however. From the brief showing of strength she saw against Reinaan she had already expected him to be in a league of his own compared to the other werewolves and now he was transformed. Simply walking forward and getting into a straightforward altercation with the werewolves hadn't worked all too well for her up to this point and she didn't think she'd last a moment if she just stepped up and went for a frontal attack. However, Lindow had a different idea in mind. Taking the last of the greharms he had purchased, the man tossed it forward towards the Lycan. Before the Lycan could react to the projectile, the Thunder Chosen let out a discharge of lightning into the object, detonating it in the man's face. Lucas was certainly made surprised by the attack and though it most certainly didn't stop him, it still managed to damage him. Taking the moment to step up, Ryia still didn't exactly know how to proceed but got herself ready for his attack. The werewolf had moved forward, swinging one of his arms down in an overhead towards her. The girl raised her shield to parry the attack away as she side stepped, though grit her teeth immediately as the force of the arm, not budging from her shield parry, came down on it. Getting ready for an attack of her own, Ryia started a swing only to see that he had already begun swinging his other claw. Doing what she could to evade the next attack, the girl attempted to duck, using her already awkward balance to move under the swipe. Before she could think of what to do next the lycan's knee struck her in the face, forcing her backwards. The girl didn't get to recoil very far back though, as he grabbed onto her. Cym took the opportunity to stab Lucas in the back, though her offense was not without retaliation as he picked up Ryia and swung her at Cym. Hitting the elf with her steel coated body, Ryia could barely make sense of what was going on, having never been tossed around like so, before she finally hit the ground. Letting out a pained groan, the girl tried to get her bearings as she brought herself up. She had certainly fought opponents that she wouldn't have been able to properly block before, they were all far larger and with far more mass than herself that she would've expected it. And while his strength was surprising in of itself, the fact that he had a speed that she hadn't encountered before to back it up made it all the more dangerous. She didn't think that she would be able to land a good hit in against this man, but she didn't think she had to. As long as she could endure his attacks and create an opening for the others that would be enough for her. Looking to Cym she huffed out a, "s-sorry," feeling bad that she had just been used as a weapon against her teammate. Then, she stood up and got ready for the next go.

a male clodsire named jimothy

As Kelsey explained the distinction between her world and this one, Fen couldn't help but be both impressed and in disbelief. It wasn't as though that she thought Kelsey was lying to her, simply that the scale of distance to refer to them, almost in the same manner as going from one city to another, was more than she could presently comprehend. As the girl went on to mention that no one had left yet, Fen's brow furrowed. She didn't exactly know what to make of it, both because she didn't know how people's attempts to do so had gone nor did she truly understand her employer in general. In fact something that seemed even stranger to her was that Percival was here. It wasn't so strange that if there were people from different worlds being recruited that others from her guild would find their way here - in fact she found it odd that she was the one picked from all of them to begin with. Rather, he had clearly been here for longer than she had but she didn't have any real recollection of him not being home for any length of time. She told Kelsey that the job she had now reminded her of her guild work, yet she hadn't realized just how many similarities there were. Snapping back to reality, the girl looked over to Kelsey as she mentioned the fish. "Oh, uh right. Well that rainbow trail one you mentioned certainly sounds delicious but only a poor chef would limit their choices to the first thing they heard." Fen smiled back as the two looked further in the aquarium. There were many sights to see, their forms generally looking familiar while the actual mechanics of their biology being entirely different. There was a pufferfish that pushed out spikes from itself, each one having a light at the end of them to act as a large multi-light globe to attract prey towards. There was a lantern fish that no one quite knew what it actually looked like as it obscured the area around it, forming a large dark mass that traveled through the water. Fen couldn't help but stop in her tracks as they came across a shark. Putting a hand to her chin, examining it she said, "so the kind that live in water also exist here too." After traversing the aquarium for awhile, the two started to make their way for the exit. However before actually getting to the exit Fen remembered something before saying, "oh, um one moment." After hurrying away from the entrance Fen left Kelsey there for a moment before returning. Proud, carrying what was clearly a plastic bag from the gift shop, the girl said, "I wished to thank you for the trip today, and as you paid for the entry I decided to pay for the souvenir." The girl pulled out a shirt, a very plain blue shirt with a few fish on the front and the back emblazoned with the same penguin the building was structured after. Forcibly handing it off to Kelsey she said, "oh um, you don't have to worry either." The girl pulled out a second one. "I bought one for myself as well." After the gift giving had been done, the girl looked up and said, "oh hm, it's still not that late. You mentioned some uh, other more physically active places to go, right? Would you want to go to one of those?" Catching herself on her question the girl said, "oh, um, of course only if you still aren't busy or the like."

“...Now, dodge to the right… Astonish.” Anima directed Confi with a calm voice, eyes narrowed on the battle as she kept her hands clasped behind her. She watched as Confi took the direction in stride, pink eyes diverting from the swirling stomach of the Poliwag in front of them as she tumbled forward in a rightward arc, coming to a stop right in front of the Pokemon… Before letting out a piercing shriek, ghostly aura rushing-forwards in that instant. The Poliwag stumbled backwards, burbling for a moment, before slumping forwards, unconscious. Anima smiled then, kneeling down as Confi trundled back, patting the Pokémon on the head slightly, and offering some food as a treat in return. “...Thanks for… helping me work out some stress here, Concon. I know they’ve not been… Too exciting to battle so far,” she tapped the Corsola on the head. “But it’s been nice to watch the fruits of our labor. I’m… Feeling better now; it feels more natural,” she smiled, even as the Corsola playfully tackled the palm of her hand. “I know, I know. Let’s do it one more time and see what comes out, alright? Maybe something stronger will pop-up,” she pat the Pokémon on their head, before rising to her full height. In response, Confi trundled back forwards into the Marsh, standing at the ready, and waiting for Anima’s instruction. “...Look up, and use Astonish,” she instructed, clasping her hands behind herself, as the Coral Pokémon raised her head to the sky-- And screamed. It was a… Novel use of the move, to be sure; in fact, to most people, using the move on the sky might have seemed idiotic. But when your Pokemon was slow… Anima’s eyes scanned the marsh around Confi, eventually locking into what appeared to be flashing lights darting through the reeds. They were hard to spot, but as they drew closer to Confi, it became much easier to pick them out. “...In front of you, to your right. It’s coming fast-- Harden,” Anima spoke calmly, even as her voice remained low; and despite the quiet way with which it was spoken, it came out so quickly and so naturally that, to her Pokémon, it was as if she had shouted it to the world. Confi’s surface went a pale white just as a blur of white, pink, blue, and even yellow shot from the depths of the marsh to slam into Confi; a glowing, pink beak attempting to pierce through the Corsola’s undead ‘skin’. “Before it can get away, stun it with Astonish,” she commanded, narrowing her eyes. Confi shrieked even louder, seemingly growing larger for a second as the Pokémon which had attacked her-- An Inkay, she realized-- A pokemon she had seen back home. Astonish will be weaker here, I think-- Isn’t it Dark Type? And it can hit Confi, so I need to be careful… But what was it Mom used to say about Inkay, if I saw one at the Beach…? To… “Look away,” Anima narrowed her eyes as the Wild Pokémon rallied itself; lights at the top of its head began to flash various colors. She felt her stomach begin to turn as her eyelids grew heavy, though she didn’t dare look away from its hypnosis. It wasn’t aimed at her, so it wouldn’t hit the right nerves in her brain, but the same wasn’t guaranteed for her friend. She glanced slightly to the side, and for a moment, she worried that their attacker had succeeded, as she saw Confi’s face buried in the water, but… Confi’s back legs peddled idly, pushing up water, marsh, and grass in front of her as she trundled towards her opponent, unabated by the flashing lights! “...And…” Anima trailed off, eyes narrowing on the Inkay slightly, watching as it kept up the barrage of lights… “...Tackle,” Anima instructed, smiling as Confi was almost pressing up against the (now particularly worried looking) Pokémon, pausing for a second, before looking up and charging forwards with a tiny, screeching war-cry. The impact was hard-- Harder than Anima was expecting, and elicited a small smile from the trainer as she nodded her head forwards. Even still, the Inkay had barely taken the hit before letting loose its own screech, and surging towards Confi at tremendous speed, beak slamming into and pecking away at the Coral Pokémon several times. She knew Confi would have been fine had this been their only fight; especially having used Harden before the battle had even truly begun, but… “Don’t let the battles before change the outcome of this one,” she instructed Confi as she forced her nerves to settle down. “Wait for the next attack, and… Tackle,” she instructed, as the Inkay reared back for one more Peck-- Only to meet Confi’s forehead in a sudden burst of speed. The Inkay recoiled from the hit, rearing back as if to peck one more time… before falling over backwards, floating in the water, facing the sky as it did so. “...Alright, up you go then,” Anima smiled, picking Confi up almost as soon as the battle was over, bringing the little Pokémon into a hug. “Thank you… You did wonderful,” she smiled, breathing a sigh of relief, even as the Pokémon's eyes began to droop in her arms. “...Yeah, I guess you’re probably pretty tired, huh?” she chuckled, tapping the Coral-Pokémon's forehead. “But-” "Anima, I found a new friend! She was hiding under my hat!" Anima smiled, as she turned to Anneliese, and gave a slight wave. “A-Ah? Another?” Anima looked almost gob-smacked at the prospect, mouth slightly agape. “Already? But you just caught Leopold-” she began, slumping slightly. For a moment, she wondered if she had been going about this the wrong way; after all, she had hardly caught anything, and here one of her companions was with three Pokémon already! But… Everyone does these things their own way. She smiled gently as she walked forwards, awkwardly stepping to the right to unstick herself from the marsh as she did so, and… Inadvertently revealing a trail of unconscious Poliwags, which had been conveniently hidden by her silhouette. “What’s, um… What’s the little guy or gal’s name?” she asked, leaning forwards to get a better look at the Rookidee. Anneliese presented the Pokémon, who turned away from Anima immediately and gazed off into the distance. "This ray of sunshine is Eleanora!" Anima snickered at Anneliese’s comment, before returning to her full height, and holding Confi parallel to the Pokémon. “I… I see,” she nodded, trying to figure out if Anneliese actually had meant that sarcasm or not, before finally caving to her instinct to deflect. “Sorry, I know this is going to be a weird question, but, did you, er… See a guy with a weird mask on your way here?” she’d ask, staring idly at the ground. "Mask? Oh, no not at all. I haven't seen any guys actually. Oh except for that young boy I battled but he wasn't wearing a mask....At least I do not think so." She screwed up her face as if trying to remember. Anima paused for a moment, nodding slightly. “...Good, then. Perhaps he was just a ghost, then, given how strange he was,” she chuckled lightly, looking up to Anneliese with a smile. “A spooky-marsh like this… Seems just the place for someone to haunt, don’t you think?” "Is that so? The only ghost I knew was in the basement and that was certainly not marshy at all. Oh but I suppose you would know better than I do would you not?" “You had a ghost in your basement?!” Anima brought a hand to her mouth instinctively as she began to smile. “Oh-- I was about to say we should go find Jacklyn, but you have got to tell me more--” she began, sounding… Excited, well and truly, for what may have been the first time since she had begun this journey.

This has been weighing me down for a while and after spending some time with family on Easter I decided I should be upfront about something

This is not true, and you know it. The real truth about this situation is

Mt best:

Nate struggled to follow the conversation between Quinn and the newcomer. The woman had an incredibly thick accent, and he had no idea what region she must have been from judging off of it. No one in Hoenn or Kanto or Johto sounded like that; he had met or been to all three places at different points in his life. Quinn didn’t sound like that, and she was from Sinnoh. That left Alola, Galar, and, uhh… Nathan blanked. There’s so many regions. How can they expect me to remember m’all? He really had tried to get it down back when he was in school. It was just, well, studying individual climates and weather patterns and the best ways to survive in them had seemed so much more worthwhile than studying the cultures or the names of land masses. Nate realized he was zoning out of the conversation when he heard Quinn say, “Of course he is alright with that,” while gesturing to him. Wait, what was he alright with? Oh well. He was sure Quinn wouldn’t agree to just anything on his behalf. The boy seemed smart enough to trust. A moment later he pieced together that the new person was asking to travel with them. Nate smiled at her and stepped forward eagerly, offering her his hand to shake. “Yeah! ‘Course you can! Journeys are better with good company, right?” If the woman accepted the handshake, she would find that his grip was firm, and his hand surprisingly calloused for a trainer just starting on his journey. Nate would pull his hand back and immediately reach for the Poké Ball on his belt. He clicked the button once to enlarge it to full size, then again to release Peat. The sea-bear materialized in a glow of light and butted his flippers into the ground playfully, rumbling when he saw the newcomer and waddling up to her to push his cold nose into her leg. “This is my best bud, Peat. He’s the only Pokémon I got right now, but he has enough personality for a whole team!” Peat showcased this by rumbling again and blowing a stream of bubbles into the air, showing off his newly learned move. A thin mist of water showered down on the party. “We’re aiming to be champions!”

Run with the pack using this custom Silver Fang archetype! Core: 5 "Silver Fang" monsters with different names This card can be Link Summoned using "Silver Fang" monsters from your Deck as Link Material. This card is unaffected by card effects, except its own. This card cannot be Tributed or used as material for the Summon of a monster from the Extra Deck. If this card is summoned to a Main Monster Zone: Destroy this card. While you control another "Silver Fang" monster, your opponent cannot target this card for attacks. Other "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control gain 300 ATK for each face-up "Silver Fang" monster in your Extra Deck. Main Deck Monsters: If a "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control would leave the field because of an opponent's card, you can banish 3 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monsters from your GY or face-up Extra Deck instead. This effect cannot be negated, also neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this effect. You can only use this effect once per turn. If a "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control would leave the field because of an opponent's card, you can place 3 of your banished "Silver Fang" Pendulum monsters into your face-up Extra Deck instead. You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: If this card is Pendulum Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. Pendulum effect: If your opponent controls a face-up monster (Quick Effect): you can place this card into your Extra Deck face-up, and if you do, place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monster(s) with ATK greater than 500 from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: If this card is Pendulum Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. Pendulum effect: If your opponent controls a face-up monster (Quick Effect): you can place this card into your Extra Deck face-up, and if you do, place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monster(s) with ATK less than 500 from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: This card can attack your opponent directly while you control a "Silver Fang" monster in your Extra Monster Zone. Pendulum effect: If your "Silver Fang" monster inflicts damage to your opponent: banish 1 random card from your opponent's hand face-down. Monster effect: If this card battles an opponent's monster, that monster's ATK and DEF become halved until the End Phase. Pendulum effect: If your "Silver Fang" monster attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage. If your opponent controls more cards than you do: you can return all cards your opponent controls to their hand, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand to their field. While this card is face-up on the field, neither player can Special Summon monsters, except "Silver Fang" monsters. This card's ATK and DEF are equal to the number of face-up "Silver Fang" monster(s) on the field and in the Extra Deck x 1000. Neither player takes any battle damage from attacks involving this card. If this card battles, after damage calculation: inflict 1000 damage to both players. If this card leaves the field: shuffle this card into the Deck. This card gains 300 ATK and DEF for each of your other "Silver Fang" cards that you control or are in your GY, banishment, or face-up in your Extra Deck. This card can attack once for each "Silver Fang" monster you control, except this card. You cannot attack with other monsters during the turn you attack with this card. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Spell or Trap card from your deck to your hand, then, you can select 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck, and if you do, place that Pendulum Monster on top of your Extra Deck, face-up. (Quick Effect) You can Special Summon 1 Warrior-Type "Silver Fang" Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, and if you do, attach this card to it as Xyz Material. You can only use each effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" once per turn. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck or GY to your hand, then, you can select 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck, and if you do, place that Pendulum Monster on top of your Extra Deck, face-up. (Quick Effect) You can Tribute this card: Special Summon "Princess of the Silver Fang" from your Extra Deck to a Main Monster Zone your Link Monster points to. While this card is in your GY and you control a "Silver Fang" monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck: you can shuffle this card into your Deck, also, you can draw 1 card. You can only use the effect(s) of "Child of the Silver Fang" twice per turn, and each effect can only be used once per turn. Extra Deck: Monster effect: This card cannot be Link Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Child of the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. You can declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap): until the end of your next Standby Phase, "Silver Fang" monsters you control are unaffected by your opponent's cards of that type. If your opponent activates a card or effect, you can negate that activation, and if you do, banish that card face-down. You can only use each effect of "Princess of the Silver Fang" once per turn. If you can Pendulum Summon Level 3, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up Monster in your Extra Deck to any of your unused Main Monster Zones. Pendulum effect: If this card is face-up in a Pendulum Zone: Destroy it. Monster effect: This card cannot be Xyz Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. While this monster has material: the effects of your "Silver Fang" cards cannot be negated by your opponent's cards and effects. If you can Pendulum Summon Level 3, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up card in your Extra Deck to any of your Main Monster Zones. Pendulum effect: If this card is face-up in a Pendulum Zone: Destroy it. This card cannot be Xyz Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. The original ATK and DEF of this card are equal to the number of "Silver Fang" Monsters on the field and face-up in the Extra Deck x 1000. Neither player takes any Battle Damage from attacks involving this card. When this card battles another monster, during the Damage Step: detach 1 Xyz Material from this card. If this card battles another monster while it has no Xyz Material: destroy this card during the Damage Step. Field Spells: Each time you Summon a "Silver Fang" monster(s), place 1 Wolf Den Counter on this card for each of those monster(s). All "Silver Fang" monsters you control gain 300 ATK and DEF for each Wolf Den Counter on this card. If this card leaves the field because of an opponent's card: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" card from your Deck to your Hand, except "Den of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack". You can only use this effect of "Den of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack" once per turn. Each time a "Silver Fang" monster is summoned, place 1 Wolf Pack Counter on this card. Once per turn (Quick Effect): you can remove all Wolf Pack Counters from this card, and if you do, Special Summon "Silver Fang" monsters from your Deck, up to the number of Wolf Pack Counters that were removed. If you use this effect, you cannot activate it again until after the End Phase of your next turn. Each time a "Silver Fang" monster is summoned, place 1 Pack Hunt Counter on this card. (Max. 3) You can remove all Pack Hunt Counters from this card: Destroy cards your opponent controls, up to the number of Pack Hunt Counters that were removed. If this card leaves the field because of your opponent's card: you can draw cards equal to the number of Pack Hunt Counters on it. You can only use each effect of "Legendary Forest of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack" once per turn. Traps: If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters in your Main Monster Zone, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Wolf Pup" Monster(s) from your Deck, and if you do, you can place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster(s) from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to the activation of this card or its effect. You can only use the effect of "Silver Fang Pups at Play" once per turn. If you control a "Silver Fang" Field Spell, this card can be activated from your hand. All "Silver Fang" monsters you control gain 300 ATK and DEF for each of your "Silver Fang" cards that you control or are in your GY, banishment, or in your Extra Deck face-up.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. -Matthew 19:14-15 (NIV)Melissa was surprised when she was asked to reconsider her journey downwards. The option was there, wasn’t it? Why would they have the option if they dissuaded people from using it? And if they were only dissuading her specifically, well, that just opened another host of questions. So, in a moment of self-determination that was becoming more and more common for her (should she be worried about this?), Melissa persisted onwards, downwards one more level into Prana. Teleporting almost felt natural this time. The next level down shocked Melissa, though, in how drastically the city changed. After two levels of urban development, what was supporting it was dirt paths and buildings that could be described as cottages at best. It wasn’t all like that but that certainly was the first impression she got. As she continued, she found the activity lay mostly in two forms. The first was vehicles -- these hovering cart contraptions -- making their way in the direction of a large white-walled central structure. Melissa decided to follow suit in that regard, keeping off to the sides of paths to let the vehicles pass her by. The second form of activity was children. Melissa had seen a few loitering around the shrine when she had exited, but there were many more out and about. Most groups had at least one guardian that she could see, though there were a few wild packs chasing each other about. Part of the way through her trek, one child about waist-height tall crashed right into Melissa’s leg. It hadn’t even been enough to knock either of them over, but the child still looked up at Melissa with eyes that seemed too big for their head, an expression on their face that was a mix of incredulity and regret. “Sowee,” the child said. “It’s alright,” Melissa said. “I’m alright. Are you alright?” But the child heard their parent calling after them and ran off without answering, so she continued onward. When the entrance to the white-walled structure came into view, Melissa saw a secret third type of activity: guards. Several were stationed around the exterior of the building, and the entrance was basically a checkpoint for those trying to get in. Vehicles had to stop and be searched before the entrance, an energy barrier the same size as the rest of the wall, lowered and they could continue onward. Melissa’s curiosity was certainly piqued, but it was tempered a little by the thought of how to actually sate that desire. She wasn’t about to go up to one of the guards and interrupt them in the carrying out of their duties just to ask a silly question. Even the thought made Melissa shrink back a bit. She thought one of them looked her way and retreated back. She just had to ask someone else. She just had to ask someone who looked a bit more accommodating. Melissa retraced her steps back to where someone was supervising a gaggle of children and tried there. “Excuse me,” she said. “Sorry, um, I’m new in town and was just wondering, what is that building?” They followed where Melissa was pointing and identified the building instantaneously. “Ah, that’s the wall around the mines, that is. Not a very pretty thing, but guess it’s prettier than the rest of this place, eh?” It felt weird to be defending a place she had been in for an hour at most, but Melissa still stepped to the plate. “I wouldn’t know if I would go that far,” she said. “I suppose you could think of it as an eyesore, but there are words you could use for this level of Prana that aren’t so bad. Rustic, rural, um, down-to-earth I guess is hyphenated…” Melissa hadn’t meant it as a joke, but they laughed anyway. “Down to earth is right!” It was a quick laugh, though, before their tone got more serious. “But what’s a young lady like yourself want with a place like that, anyway? It’s not very safe, you know. Monsters lurk down there, I hear.” Melissa blushed and looked down at her feet. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll actually be going down there anytime soon,” she said. “I hope not, anyway. I suppose dealing with monsters is technically my business, but that wouldn’t be my decision.” Another unintended joke, apparently. “Some kinda monster slayer, huh? That’s a good one. Really, though, best stay away from that place. The Great Dragon knows we all would if we could.” Melissa thanked them, but she had to be off. That was enough exploring for one day. She knew they weren’t laughing at her, or, at least, they weren’t in a meanspirited way, but needed a break from maintaining herself in the face of it regardless. She went at a brisk pace back towards the temple and the associated teleporters. As she neared the shrine, her stomach began to rumble, and she started to think about food. It at least got her calmed down a little, but now she was wondering what she might have for lunch.

Between the Sega Mega Drive, Playstation, and XBox, I prefer using the XBox ones. Feels like I've spent much more time playing one a 360 than using any of the PlayStations I've had (1 through 4) so the controller just feels much more comfortable. Plus the XBox had more games I actually went achievement hunting one. Also due to lots of time playing Halo and Mass Effect on the 360 I hate using a mouse+keyboard for shooters. Controllers allow for more comfortable sitting and/or reclining positions than mouse+keyboard.

Yeah he is fake.

It has got to be the single most hilariously pathetic thing I've ever seen on YCM, and I've both seen and done some shit. Somehow even funnier than the "Loyalty" thread, and the most interesting thing to have happened on there since said thread. Looking forward to another unhinged "Falling Pizza" rant after another three and a half years.

"You're kidding," Lindow spat in exhaustion when he realized the lycan was still alive after his assault. Sensing the danger, his shadow bubbled before shooting up like a geyser to intercept the massive claw as it took a swipe at its owner's head. With the lycan's vision obscured for a crucial second, Lindow seized the opportunity with a roar, cleaving through the wall of darkness to drive the longsword deep into the lycan's neck. Though this still wasn't enough to stop the creature despite its accumulated injuries. The wolf let out its own gargled roar, charging as if it meant to tear Lindow apart with two crossing strokes from its claws. With nowhere to run, Lindow stepped closer into the beast's range while twisting his hand into a chopping motion. The wild crackling of magic hissed and sizzled with the smell of burnt fur as the Third Blade began cutting through the lycan's torso to sear its vital organs. The creature shuddered in agony for only a brief moment before finally falling forward, nearly knocking Lindow over in the process. Panting, Lindow watched the last sparks of thunder magic dissipate before turning to see Ryia staring determinedly forward towards Lucas despite appearing to be more than halfway dead. The man opened his mouth to speak but instantly realized how dry his mouth was. Silently, he reached down into his pack to confirm that he still had three potions tucked away for such a circumstance. "Keres, do you think you can get Madelyn up?" Lindow addressed the water mage as he made his way towards Ryia. "As for you, drink this and hold still... You won't be able to save anyone in that state." Tossing the top of a health potion to the side, he thrust the bottle towards the Earth chosen before reaching out with his free hand to begin healing her arm with the Light Spirit's magic.

←Previous Post Week Sixty-Four -- Hell is in the Heart Okay so listen, On paper, this is an easy fight. It’s manipulatable in ways that I wouldn’t even call cheese, and the boss is pretty easy in obvious ways even besides that. We’ll get to how and why that is in a moment, but for now, I want to thank you for reading along. I’m sorry again for letting all the air out so close to the end, taking a year off and whatnot, but I want to make it up to you by having this be the best post it can be for this fight. We start with some good news. Not that our money was ever in doubt, but I don’t even need to spend it here. I definitely overpack here. You don’t need half of this stuff, but I couldn’t be bothered to double-check the wiki with an opportunity cost so low. For the record, here is what you should be packing: Bandages and Antivenom, obviously Medicinal Herbs if you remember to cure your debuffs ever Holy Water if you ever remember that Holy Water has a use besides curios Aegis Scales if you have Aegis Scales from the Shieldbreaker DLC and don’t decide that, since they’re so rare you might want to save them for an even better opportunity (Note: This is the final boss. There aren’t many other opportunities, but I know how you all think). Blood if you need blood for your adventurers Everything else -- food, keys, ladanum, shovels -- are useless here. Don’t do what I do unless you also get free stuff the week you decide to do this run. That map in the corner? That’s the entire map of the dungeon. That’s why I didn’t post a map of the dungeon with little annotations like I did for the other Darkest Dungeon fights. There are only five points of interest in the whole dungeon (unless you consider the “putting the cosmic in cosmic horror” background interesting), only one of them requiring preparation. In fairness, it is a lot of preparation. A whole game’s worth of preparation leading up to this moment. Three of the points of interest are the same, so we’re going to go through the odd one out first. Halfway through the hallway is a secret room, with a chest containing no loot but a little message: That’s nice. We’ll hold onto that for luck. The three that are the same are three bits of lore blocking the way. You have to physically interact with all three of these to get past, no ignoring the lore here. In all my terrible researches, what I sought was a glimpse behind the veil, a crumb of cosmic truth... I found it here, and in that moment of brain-blasting realization, I ceased to be a man and became a herald… an avatar of the Crawling Chaos. Life feeds on life. In your petty pursuit of family redemption, you consumed those who rallied to your cause, and in so doing you strengthened the Thing, accelerating the end. This is as it should be. It is why you are here. We are chained here forever, you and I, at the end of the world. Free yourself, rouse the Thing, and embrace the ineffable cosmic hideousness that lives within us all. Darkest Dungeon is not exactly at the forefront of storytelling. That’s not a bad thing -- I think this game is fantastic -- but its storytelling has not been its focus for that. This is a funny ludonarrative touch, though. The Ancestor, posing as still a mortal man, has called in his kin to right his wrongs. However, the bloodshed caused by the slaughter of the adventurers you hire is what fuels the ineffable evil beneath the manor. By playing this game, you are contributing to the end of the world. This is why, on the harder Stygian/Blood Moon difficulties, you only have a set number of deaths allowed before you get a game over. That’s neat. I mean, the game says this even if no adventurers have died yet, but then again, the end of the universe is always going to happen in real life, too, whether people die in it or not. So the existential horror is there all the same. Anyway, the final point of interest is the final boss: Your Ancestor. You still foolishly consider yourself an entity separate from the whole. I know better. And I. will. show you. This is a four-phase boss fight designed to test all four of the major fundamental play patterns this game facilitates. The first phase is a combination of grinding through enemies despite growing stress and limited healing. On the opening round, the Ancestor will summon three Perfect Clones of himself and will continue to refresh these clones as you cleave through them. These clones will stress your adventurers out and inflict bleed on them. The actual Ancestor, meanwhile, only appears to have five hit points, but he is immune to all forms of damage*. *okay technically his debuff resistance is low enough that you can debuff one of his bleed or blight resistances and cheese the fight that way but don’t do this please don’t it’s not worth it. Let’s take a moment to talk about party composition. Some of this was dictated by who was left after the first three rounds, but I knew I wanted Yui the Leper for this fight because of his high damage output, and I figured that Skaia the Bounty Hunter would be a good support for that. He does do bonus damage to Human-type enemies, and the Ancestor is somehow still Human-type, after all. Ren is our status-effect support, dealing bleed where possible, yes, but he also has Chain Gang, an ability that has a decent chance to stun two enemies. ABC is our healer, but can take advantage of Skaia’s marks as well if we decide to use any of those. An important part of the action economy for this phase of the fight is that the new summons the Original Ancestor creates don’t also get to act that turn, so you get a chance to clear them before they can even do any of their nonsense. That’s why Ren’s stun ability is especially useful. It just tilts things even more in your favor. Now, the reason you are fighting through all these copies of Ancestors is that, as the fight goes on, he will occasionally mess up and summon an Imperfect Reflection instead of the normal Perfect ones. These reflections are your opportunity. Each Imperfect Reflection slain deals one damage to your Ancestor. Like I said, he only has five health, so after five Imperfect Reflections, we’re on to Phase Two. The flesh is fluid, it can be changed, reshaped, remade! This phase of the fight tests positional awareness. These Absolute Nothingnesses the Ancestor Summons are impossible to even hit, let alone kill (don’t look up the video, that person ruined their life doing something stupid), and each move the Ancestor makes shuffles him around these obstacles. You have to always be able to hit every row because you don’t know where he’s going to be. Normally, this would be where Yui would struggle. He can only hit half of the enemy formation, after all. But that’s where Skaia’s Come Hither ability comes in, pulling the Ancestor two spaces forward on every hit. The Ancestor has pitiful Move Resistance in this phase of the fight, so he will almost always be in range of Yui’s blade. The pull also marks the Ancestor, which means ABC and Skaia also get to do extra damage to him when they get an opportunity. Anyway, the worst thing the Ancestor can realistically do here is shuffle your party. He gets Yui at one point, sending him all the way to the back of the line, but we have an opportunity coming up to crawl back to the front. The flesh is immortal, it is undying. Pray it does take not too hideous a form. The Gestating Heart phase is as close to a Rest phase as you can expect. The Heart will progress to the final phase in three turns, but if you can clip through all two hundred of its hit points before then, you get a head start. Hitting the Heart even heals you, though it also has a chance to inflict some Blight as it does so. it also has an area-of-effect Blight attack, but that’s negligible at this point as well (you did bring Antivenom with you, right?). Yui in particular can chop through all that health pretty quickly, and so the final phase begins. Behold the heart of the world! Progenitor of life, father and mother, alpha and omega! Our creator… and our destroyer. I love this image of Yui healing stress from killing the Gestating Heart with a critical hit while simultaneously glimpsing the eldritch horror in the center of the world. Maybe he’s just seen it all at this point. Anyway, this fight is a simple race. The Heart deals damage. You deal damage. Who can deal damage faster? That being said, the Heart of Darkness has a pair of tricks up its sleeve. The first trick is this: When it drops below two-thirds health, it uses a special move called Come Unto Your Maker. This is a unique attack. Instead of the monster AI choosing a hero to, uh, Come, it allows the player to choose who is being hit with the attack. The reason for this is that the output of the attack is a dead hero 100% of the time. There is no rolling for Death’s Door. The hero dies. A nice touch is the various reactions the selected adventurers have to being considered. Hovering the mouse over each of your party members causes them to say something. Here are the ones for the heroes that came with us: Yui the Leper: “Spare the others, I am ready.” Skaia the Bounty Hunter: “...hm.” Ren the Wraith: “Do what must be done. My sacrifice will restore the honor I have lost so long ago.” ABC the Arbalest: “Please no, I want to live!” I chose Ren for this. He was useful, and he will be missed, but perhaps his biggest mistake was joining a party with three forum-named characters in it. I do want to keep the forum-goers alive as long as possible, of course. Anyway, the second trick the Heart of Darkness has is that it uses Come Unto Your Maker a second time when it drops below a third of its health. Like I said, this last phase is a damage race, and with only two party members, it’s a race the Arbalest would be middling at at this stage. Also, ABC has the least forum reputation of you three, which is the best and most objective metric for this thing. Never mind that the Arbalest was begging for her life, right? Despite all this, the heroes do have an advantage in the action economy sense. The Heart of Darkness only ever does one move a turn, so between Skaia and Yui both wailing damage numbers in the thirties at it, the Heart folds quickly, the final blow coming from Skaia’s axe. Well, this was a journey. I enjoyed this immensely. It’s nice to play a good video game sometimes, huh? Commiserations to ABC for being the only forum-goer to die. You don’t have to get banned if you don’t want to. There is one final cutscene that plays upon the Heart’s defeat. I know the LP started with a content warning, involving suicide, but what follows is more suicide. Victory… A hollow and ridiculous notion. We are born of this thing, made from it, and we will be returned to it, in time. The great family of man… a profusion of errant flesh! Multiplying, swarming, living, dying… Until the stars align in their inexorable formation and what sleeps is roused once more, to hatch from this fragile shell of earth and rock and bring our inescapable end. So seek solace in a manner befitting your lineage and take up your nugatory vigil, haunted forever by that sickening prose echoing through the infinite blackness of space and time… Ruin has come to our family. Thank you all for reading, -r ←Previous Post

The bard exhaled slowly, taking a moment to compose himself and prepare for the conjurations. After a few moments, he began to slowly conjure out a few things. He started small, taking aim at a broken down set of abandoned boxes and slung his hands towards it...it immediately being struck by a bit of acid. After that, he struck it with a small flurry of ice strikes. It was like riding a horse...he truly never forgot how to do it. "Thank you, my goddess..." he muttered softly to himself, before turning and noticing a trio of cloaked figures coming his direction. "Greetings. We're members of the Kalo family and can't help but notice you seem to be using Conjuration magic. But I don't recognize you. I take it you're not from here? Perhaps you're here to explore the dungeon? I hope you're not here to cause some sort of disturbance, we're in the middle of some inspections you see." Ziun looked at the trio of cloaked figures, before clearing his throat and bowing slightly. "Apologies. I did not mean to cause any alarm here, sir. However in your inspections and assumptions, you did guess correct. I am practicing a bit of my Conjuration magic, trying to get back in tune with it. I am also not from this fine city you have here. Ziun Castir, a humble bard from Cheron, as well as explorer of the Dungeon. A pleasure to make your acquaintances." "Ah, I see. Well that's no problem as long as you keep to yourself...What is it?" He turned towards one of the two who told him something and he nodded. Looking back at Ziun he said, "You haven't happened to meet any...unsavory characters also exploring the Dungeon have you?" "Hmm? Unsavory?" Ziun repeated, putting a hand to his chin slightly. "Would you be referring to the undead and the skeletons that may have attacked myself and my allies whilst in the Dungeon? If not those..." he paused, before nodding. "...there was a hulking beast there with a group of, and the best I can describe them as were cultists." "No, no not monsters." he said, waving his hand. "I mean people. Thieves and cutthroats and the like." "Hmmm then aside from the cultists, as I mentioned, I did not see any thieves or cutthroats of that ilk." Ziun shook his head. The trio looked at each other and then back at Ziun. "Listen, there's someone going into the Dungeon recently who is very dangerous. He's already stolen something from members of our family and attacked others. We need to find them and get the item back. It's incredibly dangerous if left in hands of those who don't know how it works." "I see..." Ziun nodded, rubbing his chin slightly. "Do you happen to have a descriptor of this individual? If not a descriptor of him, perhaps the item he stole from you? It might make it easy to identify if we run into them." The trio began to explain and describe the 'villain' in question. A young man with a height of 5'8"...tidy but unkept short blonde looking hair... ...wait a minute... he thought, listening more and more to the way they described this thief...and he mentally facepalmed. ...oh no...no no no no...don't mention he's carrying a sw-... Apparently they mentioned the exact weapon and Ziun cursed internally. ...son of a satyr...what in the hell did you get involved in Chris?!?! He tapped his finger to his chin once he realized what it was. He did his best to keep calm and not let them know that he technically knew the culprit. "I see, I see...fret not, I'll keep my eyes peeled for such a thief." "Are you sure? After all from what we've found he began exploring the Dungeon recently so you might have noticed them and not even realized." "You may have a point. I may have bumped around a few people that fit that description, but I can't be 100% certain of it..." Ziun sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Again they glanced at each other. "Well, if you do come to the head family's mansion. We will give them your name and description so they know who to be...on the lookout for." "Of course, happy to help." he gave a firm nod. "I do wish you happy hunting for this criminal all the same." "Keep your eyes open, they've been shown to not be above violence to take what they want. Wouldn't want you to get caught unawares." Once they finally left, Ziun turned and was five minutes away from take his hat and immediately start tearing it to pieces. This was NOT what he wanted to hear or needed to hear from anyone at this point. The Apati family wanted him to sabotage everyone in the Dungeon. And NOW the Kalo family was simply looking for Chris because he apparently was wanted for whatever crimes that they were accusing him of. Does anyone else in this party have anything else with these families?! he thought, shaking his head slightly. ...seems like me and our fearless leader need to have a talk...a very insightful talk.

Fen was made more curious by Kelsey's initial explanation, but before she asked about it she was asked her opinion on "this." At first the girl thought she was referring to simply the aquarium, to which she was definitely fascinated by the structure and enjoying her time seeing all the new types of ocean life, but then realized she likely meant the city as a whole. No perhaps she meant the "planet" or "world" as a whole, though the two hardly seemed any different then the "city" to her with what limited exposure she had to it. Even still, her answer remained largely the same from the aquarium. "Well, hmm, I think I've certainly enjoyed my time here so far. I was uh, definitely overwhelmed when I first came though. I don't think I've ever seen, well, just about any of the magical devices that they have here back home." Bashfully the girl added, "in fact I was uh, well, nervous that to even send a message with this," the girl held up her watch. Her nerves, based on Kelsey's response as well, were not unfounded though she supposed that was more a matter of prose then function. Back pedaling the girl said, "oh but um, that's not to say that I've had only difficulties with these devices. And I've learned all about how convenient they could be. Back home because of, well, my own magic I had to constantly use it as a means to store and preserve food, but I've learned that there's a wonderful thing called a "refrigerator" that does it for me. The city is also much more um, I suppose vibrant and tall then I'm used to." Thinking about where she was from the girl said, "I suppose really the only place that compared was the capital of Arbolia, though even the grand architecture and size of that city pales a bit in comparison to this city. It's also a bit overwhelming to deal with...oh, but well, I've had a number of helpful people - oh yourself included, who have helped me. Well, get my bearings. It...almost reminds me of my guild...really..." The girl looked to the side, remembering that she was far, far from home with no way back before saying, "the work here isn't too different then what I'm used to, and I do enjoy helping people but...that I don't know how long this job should last...or how to get home and how sudden it all has been...well um..." Fen trailed off before looking back to Kelsey, her expression lighting up. "Oh, but you said you've traveled to other worlds before right? Does that mean you can come and go as want?"

“After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.” -Daniel 7:6 (NIV) Melissa was returning some kind of nodding acknowledgment of a jogger crossing her path when she first heard the jingling of the bell. It had just seemed like background noise, a little embellishment coming from one of the endless stream of buildings. Melissa was pretty used to confines. Even when she wasn’t willingly locking herself in a bathroom stall for a good moment of alone time, she’d spent most of her life in a dome called Ambrosia. Still, even Ambrosia had places of openness to it. You could pretend the sky was real there. Here, though, she couldn’t help but feel a touch of claustrophobia. She was at an intersection deciding which way to wander next when she heard the bell again. The sound was unique enough to be memorable, and clear enough against the monotonous haze to recognize it. Melissa didn’t see anyone when she looked, but she did hear the bell a third time and finally identified the source. There was a cat following her. By the time she noticed that was what it was, the cat had stopped and was now sitting in front of her, looking up. “Oh, hello,” Melissa said, crouching down and offering the back of her hand to the cat. “Aren’t you curious? What’s your name?” The cat nuzzled against Melissa’s hand, though it didn’t purr like she expected a cat might in such a situation. It got closer to her and kept looking up, and Melissa could see that the cat had a collar with a tag on it. The tag didn’t have any more identifying information than a sigil that looked like a ghost, but at least it was something. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. My name’s Melissa,” Melissa said. “Do you live around here? I’m not trespassing in your territory, am I?” It really seemed like the cat was listening to her, even as it wove in and out underneath Melissa’s legs in a figure-eight pattern. Melissa nearly tripped over the shifting weight at her feet but managed to right herself. “I’m just wandering around too,” she said. “Where have you been? Anywhere exciting?” The cat stopped meandering and started trying to climb Melissa’s dress. “Oh! Okay, um, please don’t, um…” Thankfully, someone else came running up. “Ghost, wait,” the woman said in between haggard breaths. “Don’t… climb… on strangers.” Melissa guided Ghost off of herself and back down to the ground. “It’s alright,” she said. “I’d introduced myself, so I guess we aren’t strangers anymore. I take it you’re his?” The woman had regained her breath, but Melissa noticed that she still got quieter talking to her than she had with the cat. “Oh, um, I suppose so. He’s one of the babies from my shop but he hasn’t let anyone take him yet,” she said. The cat, meanwhile, leapt up onto the woman’s shoulder and remained perched there. “Like a cat café?” Melissa asked. “I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never actually been in one, not even back home.” She looked at Ghost, taking in all his features again. “He's a little big to still be a baby. How old is he?” “Oh, no, it’s a pet shop,” the woman said. “Or… a shelter? And also a shop. I’m not really explaining this well.” She looked down at the ground, cheeks flushed. Ghost had to nudge the woman to get her to answer Melissa’s actual question. “He’s ninety-five, so I guess you could say he’s more middle-aged.” Melissa’s eyes widened in spite of herself. “I think the oldest cat I met before I came here was around twenty years old or so,” she said. “You’re a very lucky cat, Ghost. And I’m sorry for assuming.” She had to rush to tack on that last bit, but Melissa thought it was an important one to add. “Really? I guess all cats are different,” the woman said. “Oh, but I should, um, let you get back to your business now. He didn’t rip any of your clothes, did he? I always tell him to be careful…” Melissa checked her dress again for any tears, but the fabric on Prana was impressive enough that she found none. She demonstrated this to the woman and said, “Alright. Oh, but I guess if you run a pet shelter, do you have any advice for raising a Slakoth? I… guess you could say I came into one a few days ago and I think he’s happy with how I’ve set him up, but it never hurts to get more advice, right?” Another extra thought. “I don’t think I got your name?” The Pokémon was unfamiliar to the woman. “Is a Slakoth a sort of slug?” she said before realizing that she hadn’t introduced herself with another set of flushed cheeks. “I’m… I forgot that part. I’m Delilah.” “A… I think it’s a sloth pun.” Melissa tried to find a picture on her watch to show it to Delilah. “I already told Ghost this, but I’m Melissa.” Delilah seemed a bit nervous as she glimpsed Melissa’s watch, but her eyes lit up as soon as she saw the picture. “What an interesting little one,” she said. “Perhaps you could bring him here sometime. I would love to meet an animal I had never seen before.” Just like that, though, whatever confidence Delilah had was gone. She took a few steps back again. “Sorry. I got excited.” “Oh sure, I’m sure Bartleby wouldn’t mind,” Melissa said. She switched her watch over to a map screen. “Just, uh, point out where your shelter shop is and I’ll be sure to come in sometime.” As Delilah sighed and leaned in to do so, Ghost reached out from his perch and booped Melissa on the nose. Melissa couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Alright, well, it was nice to meet you, Delilah and Ghost.” It took a moment for them to actually part ways. They both initially went the same direction, and Melissa feinted like she left something behind as an excuse to turn around and actually say goodbye to the two of them. Still, soon after that, she was alone again. “Well, that was an adventure in itself,” Melissa said. But at the same time, it felt like she had seen all there was to see on this level of Prana, at least for now. She really did mean to turn around, it turned out, go back to the shrine with the teleporters and try something new. “I wonder what the next floor has?”

With Cherry taking yet another victory against a wild pokemon, the smile remained on Jacklyn's face as she cheered, "way to go Cherry! I doubt there's any wild pokemon that could match up to you now." The Buneary hopped up in joy at the praise. "Oh my god, it's so cute." Jacklyn and Cherry turned their attention to the source of the voice; a trendy looking girl in a skirt with a lollipop in her mouth who seemed to be smiling at the Buneary. She marched on forward, paying no heed to Jacklyn as she crouched down and grabbed the, now confused, buneary's ears. "And they're so fluffy too, and like seriously where do you get one in this color?" The girl continued to fluff the confused Buneary's ears as she marveled over the pokemon. The Buneary remained confused at this invasion of its personal space, though didn't really do much against it, as Jacklyn smiled proudly. "That's right! I'm glad you understand how great my team member is, isn't that right Cherry? After all when it comes to being cute there's no one better on my team then her." Cherry, still unsure of what was going on, knew it was being praised and thus smiled and cried out excitedly. "For real, for real. But you know there's no one more 'dorbs out there then my Minchi." A crack could be heard as the girl chomped down on her candy, looking up at Jacklyn. "What'd you say?" The girl looked down, locking eyes with the Lass as it was clear what was about to happen. Standing up, the Lass walked back before reaching into her backpack and pulling out a premier ball. With a flick of her wrist the ball went to the ground, opening and releasing the Mincino that was inside of it. Jacklyn, furrowing her brow, said, "I see. So that's "Minchi." Hmmm...not bad." "Right? Like I knew you'd get it." "But don't think that means you've won just yet. Go on Cherry, show her just how cute you are!" "Bu!" "Bet." Lass Sadie challenged Jacklyn to a battle. The two pokemon battled each other, though the both of them only knew one attacking move and it was the same move. As such their strategies were entirely one dimensional, in the repeated use of pound, dodge, pound, get hit, pound again. The two pokemon also had a bit of confusion as the two trainers kept shouting about being cute while doing their attacks, or even to "cutely" take the hit and shrug it off. To make matters even more confusing to a bystander, "alright Cherry go for it! Show off what you got!" "Minchi, dazzle them with your cuteness!" The Buneary then began bouncing around, as if splashing, to no effect. The Mincino, meanwhile, clapped along, offering a Helping Hand to Cherry's display. The two trainers nodded before the battle resumed in earnest. Though the two were evenly matched, in the end it was Cherry who had come out on top by a hair. The Lass called back her pokemon, looking disappointed saying, "losing isn't very cute at all. But your Cherry's pretty cute too, so," the girl tossed Jacklyn a lollipop as part of her winnings, before giving a wave saying, "laters." Popping the piece of candy in her mouth Jacklyn said, "that's what I thought." Then proudly looking to her Buneary she shouted, "way to go Cherry! I knew you could do it." The Buneary gave a thumbs(?) up to the girl, though looked wobbly on her feet. "Alright you can take a rest for now." The girl returned her pokemon before looking around saying, "now where did everyone else get off to?" As Jacklyn wandered off back onto the beaten path, starting to go up the road again she saw someone coming the opposite side. Jacklyn attempted to lock eyes with the man, but it proved impossible as she couldn't clearly see his eyes under the mask he was wearing. As he passed by the girl just called out, "cool mask," before making her way up to regroup with Anima.

A long road, a bunch of trees, and one girl walking down the road. The black hoodie and tracksuit pants were functional yet cozy, and the large backpack slung over her shoulder carried everything she had to her name, save for her phone, her wallet, and the latter's own contents. That wasn't to say she was destitute or anything, just that Kiara was the type to travel light and live an extremely minimalistic lifestyle. Maybe one day she'd settle down in one place and let herself buy extra bells and whistles, but she had more important things on the mind at present. Today most of all. She'd woken up at the crack of dawn in a cheap motel room at the edge of Erie, grabbed her bag, went to the nearest restaurant to get some food for the road, then started walking. After all, she didn't want to be late for tryouts at some fancy government job did she? The potential value of working for the JJA aside, Kiara just valued punctuality. If she could make it early to something, she preferred to do so, which was easier said than done when your only mode of transportation was your own two feet. She took a sense of pride in that, though. Not because it somehow made her better than people who made it early on a bike or a car, but because the amount of people who'd been all the places she'd been, and got there mostly by foot, must have been incredibly small. It was also good casual exercise. That said, she'd been going for some time, with very little in the way of actual breaks. She'd been in Tennessee when Kiara got the call about potentially working for the JJA, and while Memphis to Erie was very doable within a couple days by car, going on foot meant she basically had to get going as soon as the call ended, even employing her cursed technique to speed things along when possible, and hitchhiking every so often. Which brought her back to today's scene, as she absentmindedly grabbed a strip of bacon from inside the to-go box and idly munched on it, taking in the scenery around her. Some distance outside of Erie, a lone girl walked down a Pennsylvania backroad. She’d done a lot of that since taking off on her own quest, the more she thought about it. Walking. Down backroads, across sprawling urban landscapes, into the middle of the woods, through mud and snow - sometimes both at the same time - in sun, wind, rain, or otherwise. If there was one constant, it was walking. Which was fine by her. It was good for her, and this kind of walking - down the highway with no distractions of civilization, yet a literal paved path to her objective - was her favorite. Still, the trek up here had been nothing if not long and arduous, and Kiara was at this specific time getting a bit tired of walking. Eventually, a beat-up station wagon pulled up beside the girl. Leaning over, the driver laboriously cranked down the passenger window, poking her head out, “Need a lift into town? I’ve got somewhere to be but I could spare a bit of time.” “Gwen. Good luck Kiara, not that it seems you need it.” “Same to you.” While Gwen drove off, presumably to find some parking, Kiara eyed up the building before her. Pretty fancy-looking for something out in the middle of the woods, to be sure. Not one to stand around considering what the inside might be like instead of just going in and finding out, Kiara went inside. It was very much in line with what she expected. Following the sign into the next room, Kiara took a seat at the back row and occupied one of the seats next to her with her bag, simply so she didn't have to walk as far before sitting and finally giving her legs a well-earned rest after the trek across nearly half the damn country. Some other sorcerers were already assembled here, though she did have to wonder just how many people the JJA could have possibly hired in one go. They clearly cast their net wide and didn't leave much in the way of unturned stones, if she of all people was attending this meetup. She had to admit, this place wasn't half-bad. After a bit, Gwen from earlier even made a rather loud entrance. “So, do we just line up at one of those Test Your Strength carnival games to see who’s special grade and who’s getting neuralyzed, or what?” "If a good punch is all it takes, I must be the strongest sorcerer in the room," Kiara laughed. "Long as they don't say some crap like "tell us your name and a fun fact about yourself," I'll play along."

I don't know how to put that move into a yugioh card. Yes you can move both Paradoxes to Custom Cards.

Hug: Misdreavus Catch: Blacephalon Fight: Froslass Next: Zacian-Crowned, Flutter Mane, Roaring Moon

Which touhou could you take in a fight

As morning came, Lana got out of her bed, groggy as ever. The day after a dungeon dive had always left her needing more sleep then normal, though she couldn't help but feel like her typical post dungeon fatigue wasn't as terrible as the last few times. It still took her a few moments to snap back to attention and remember what it was that she needed to do for the day. Her eyes fell on her hand axe and dagger sitting on the table in the room. The girl then looked at the wall, bare of what it usually held, and sighed. "My poor axes...my poor money..." The girl didn't want to have to go into town to go and buy new weapons, especially if they weren't going to be any better than the ones she just had. But she could hardly go into combat missing a primary weapon. As such, sacrifices had to be made. "Well, once I'm done I'll be filthy rich so just a little won't matter now." As she got out of bed, the girl began to make her out for the day when a commotion caught her attention. Making her way to the source of the commotion, she could see that Anna was being chewed out by her father for having slept on the church grounds all night. While she was not one for getting involved in family business she and Anna were, presumably, friends so just leaving this as it was didn't sit well with her. "Uhh, good morning? Is, uh, everything alright?" "Ah, good morning young lady...did we wake you?" the priest said. Anna just waved. "I was just getting up actually. So like what I heard...did Anna really stay the night here?" "It would seem so. She snuck out of the house to do so as well." The priest sighed. "I suppose I should just be glad she didn't rope you into it too." "Eh? Why did you..." The girl looked at where they were for a moment, then looked at a random gravestone, before sighing to herself. Clearing her throat, forcing an incredibly friendly expression and tone on her face the girl said, "ahhh, did you just want to stay the night with me Anna, is that all? But I sleep inside you know?" Anna looked over at Lana. "No. I wouldn't be in the graveyard if that was the case." Her eye twitched as the girl seemed to not want to bother playing along on with her assist. Though, Lana wasn't sure if this was more Anna's fault for not understanding it or Lana's own fault for not realizing yet who she was dealing with. Clearing her throat heartily again, she looked to the priest. "I'll uh...keep an eye out for her in the future to make sure it doesn't happen." The priest smiled. "You're a good kid. Maybe some of that will rub off on her." He muttered then took Anna by the arm. "Now come on, you have to apologize to your mother." "Ahahaha, well...uh, good luck Anna." "Byebye." Anna said flatly as she left. Letting out a sigh the girl then looked around and, in a hushed tone, asked, "Farah? Farah are you here?" No response. Lana looked around for a moment longer, opening her mou- "Wow, talking to yourself, what a weirdo." "Ah!" Lana yelped before looking over to the ghost girl. Then, sighing again she'll ask, "why did you let Anna sleep outside?" "What do ya expect me to do, drag her back home? Anyway she didn't actually sleep much." "At least get her to sleep on a pew or something...Wait, she was up all night?" The mere idea of staying up that long seemed to disgust Lana. "She was watching the stars. She does that sometimes." Farah said and nodded. "I...see..." The girl looked to the day time sky before letting out another sigh. "Well, people are probably going to think she's haunted if she keeps spending nights in graveyard, which would be bad news." With a slight look of resignation the girl said, "I guess I really will need to keep a look out. Oh well, that's for later. I gotta go shopping now for some dungeon stuff." "Well. She IS haunted." Farah said with a giggle. "Kay! Buy something nice for me while you're at it!" With that Farah faded away. As Lana walked away she just mumbled, "what do you even buy for a ghost?"

I legit haven't played the game in years and when I did I was bad; anyway I had an idea so here have a card NCM. This card can only be activated on the opponent's turn. For every 1000 damage you have taken this turn you may Special Summon 1 "Slime Token" (Aqua-Type/Water/Level 1/ATK 500/DEF 500) in Attack Position.

I won't stop using Windows for personal reasons, so I don't need another OS. This is all I have to say. It just be like that sometimes.

by popular demand i'm posting this meme here too

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Week Sixty-Four -- The Shrieker Part Two Ahhhh. I gave a list of reasons this blag didn’t update in my announcement post, and they’re a little embarrassing, so I won’t reiterate them here. It is good to be back, though. I find Darkest Dungeon is one of those games that’s pretty easy to come back too. The actual control scheme is a point-and-click affair. The actual mechanics are complex, but the front-facing ones are, put simply, “make their number go down and your number not go down.” I was able to get through this fight without much effort, though I would have liked some actual reward for all that trouble. But we’ll get to that in just a moment. We covered most of the Shrieker mechanics in the last blog post about it. Last time, though, was more a struggle for survival. 16 damage was more of a threat than it is now. I mean, it is still a threat, and the Shrieker gets three threats a turn, but we’ve scaled to match. There’s never a doubt that we can’t survive. But what my screenshots fail to capture (I do not understand my new computer but the screenshots are kind of lame. I’m doing my best with what I’ve got, but it’s something that will not work next week) is that the Shrieker is still annoying. It’s a bird, which means just like real life, it’s got a high DODGE stat, and though I’ve got Sethera on buff duty and some accuracy-boosting relics, it’s able to sidestep at a few key moments is not great. It also has very strong resistances at Champion-level. This is a bleed-focused party composition, and a 95% bleed resistance makes someone like Damian only inflict his premier status effect only half the time. We lost four coin flips over the course of this fight, each of which would have meant an extra fifteen damage getting through. So we don’t kill the Shrieker this time. That’s fine. The goal for quest completion was survival. We just needed our trinkets back, and we got them. We could have gotten some better shrieker quirks than we ended up with if we’d won (Sethera ended up with Corvid’s Appetite, which increases how much food they eat), but all of these heroes had already braved the Darkest Dungeon and come out the other side. This week also gave us an opportunity to make sure my chosen party for the fourth and final run through the Darkest Dungeon is in as tip-top a shape as we can manage. Yui, Skaia, and ABC, which one of you would be most likely to sacrifice yourself for the greater good? Just out of curiosity, I mean. -r ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

Once again in the mood to share my ideas, this time the somewhat incomplete "Zaparticle" Archtype, a group of Thunder monsters that like to either have empty zones between them or a sequence of monsters whose combined Level is 0 to make their spell/traps and ED monsters more powerful, all loosely based on the idea of positive/negative ions. it uses my (very unoriginal) concepts of "Negative" monsters (monsters whose level is a negative value) and my iteration of Trap Pendulums (seen here: The Monsters The strategy primarily revolves around using the effects of the three pendulum monsters to easily swarm the field, after which they can be used as both link materials and tribute fodder for you link monster's effects. "Once per turn, If you have a Thunder-Type monster in your other Pendulum Zone, you can draw one card for each empty zone between (exclusive) this card and that monster." "If you control a face-up Thunder-Type Negative Monster you can Special Summon this card to a zone adjacent to that monster." "Once per turn, If you have a Thunder-Type monster in your other Pendulum Zone, you can target one card on the field; return that card to it's owners Hand. You cannot Pendulum Summon except "Zaparticle" Monsters. (this cards Pendulum Scales is always treated as -2)." "If you control a face-up Thunder-Type Monster with a positive Level you can Special Summon this card to a zone adjacent to that monster. This cards Level is always treated as -1." "Target two Thunder-Type Monsters you control whose combined Levels equals 0, monsters you control in zones between those targets cannot be removed from the field until the Endphase, then you can Pendulum Summon Thunder-Type monsters. This cards Pendulum Scale is always treated as the scale of the monster in your other Pendulum Zone x-1." "Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. If you control Thunder-Type monsters whose combined Levels equals 0 you can Special Summon this card from your Hand." The Link monsters, with the exception of Collida, each have effects revolving around the level of monsters you tribute for their effects or summon. "1 Thunder-Type monsters You can also Link Summon this card by discarding one "Zaparticle Prota" and "Zaparticle Electra", if Link Summoned this way you can, immediately after this effect resolves, Link Summon one "Zaparticle" monster from your Extra Deck using this card and other "Zaparticle" monsters you control. Once per turn you can tribute this Link Summoned monster (quick effect); Special Summon up to three monsters from your Hand, GY, or faceup from your Extra Deck whose combined Levels equals 0. You can only Link Summon one "Zaparticle Collida" per turn." "2 Thunder-Type Monsters This card and any monster it is used as a Link Material for the summon of gains the following effects based on the level of "Zaparticle Monsters used as Materials for this card's Link Summon; ● -1 or lower: This card is immune to Spell Cards/Effects. ● 0: When this card is summoned destroy cards on the field equal to the number of empty zonesthis card points to. ● 1 or higher: This card is immune to trap cards/effects." "3 Thunder-Type monsters If you control a Negative Monster and a monster with a positive Level you can move this card to a main monster zone between those monsters. Once per turn you can tribute a monster linked to this card, add one "Zaparticle" Spell or Trap card from your Deck to your Hand." image has an error, Reactor Dragon's ATK is 2800 "2+ Thunder-Type and/or Negative Monsters Once per turn you can tribute a monster linked to this card, activate the appropriate effect based on that monsters Level; ● -1 or lower: this card can attack all monsters with a positive Level your opponent controls during your next battlephase. ●0: add monsters from your Deck or face-up from your Extra Deck to your Hand whose combined Levels equals 0. ●1 or higher: Special Summon one Thunder-Type Monster from your GY or Face-up from your Extra Deck to a zone this card points to." The Spells/Traps I currently don't have images for the few spells/traps I have made. Ionized Zaparticles Quickplay "Discard one card then target two Thunder-Type Monsters you control whose combined Levels equals 0; Special Summon as many "Zaparticle Ion Token" (Thunder/LIGHT/Level 0/ATK 0/DEF 0) as possible to Monster Zones between those targeted monsters." Zaparticle Inversion Normal "Target one Thunder-Type monster you control; it's Level becomes equal to it's original Level x-1." Zaparticle Barrier Continuous "Face-up Thunder-Type monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or your opponents card effects. Destroy this card if the combined Levels of monsters you control is not 0." Charged Zaparticles Normal "Target all "Zaparticle" monsters you control in zones adjacent to each other whose combined Levels equals 0; Those monsters gain 500 ATK for each targeted monster until the Endphase."